This Is Where We Start
by EmberMountains
Summary: "She had a feeling that who she was, and who she is, are about to be two very different people." When a girl wakes up without any memories and is told she has a gift, she doesn't realize she might be the only thing The Avengers need to glue themselves back together. Just as long as she doesn't let any personal feelings with a metal armed man get in the way.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or this universe, and I am making no money off of this. I am just a fan, that is all. All belongs to the magical world of Marvel. (…except my OC…)_

 _This is my first ever fan fiction, hope you all enjoy._

 _(also, this chapter is setting up a main character, so bare that in mind)_

 **Chapter One**

Everything was dark and cold. The walls were blank, and there was a single stream of white, harsh light coming into the square room from a glass door. Gently, she placed her hand on the floor in front of her face to feel the cold cement under her palm. It felt nice, and the contrast between the floor and her skin made her realize she felt feverish. She turned slightly from how she was lying on her side to press her forehead onto the ground and sighed.

Her head felt like mush, slowly clearing on the chilled floor. She couldn't remember how she had gotten here.

She . . . she couldn't remember anything.

Her heart started to beat faster, pounding into the floor uncomfortably. She sat up to rest the back of her head on the wall behind her. There was _nothing_. No memory of anything other than right now.

She didn't understand how that was possible. She looked around the room, making sure she could describe every detail to herself. Her mind itself was working fine. Knowledge floated in different pieces as she glanced around the empty room. Facts and images of the world, mathematic equations, the only thing missing was anything personal. There were no memories.

Already her head felt better, and her skin had started to cool. Placing one hand on the wall, she stood. Her heart was still beating fast. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Tracing the wall with her fingertips, she started over to the glass door. It was the only thing in the small square room. There was a metal bar that ran horizontally through the middle of the door, and a handle. She stepped towards it, bare feet quiet. The handle was locked.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

There was a faint reflection in the glass, and she caught a look at the outline of her soft curving face. Subconsciously she ran a hand through her ponytail, and wondered if that was an old habit as she saw the tips of her snow white hair out of the corner of her eye.

The handle felt cold, and she shook it over and over again, placing all of her weight into the door. It stood solid and unaffected. On the other side of the door was another wall, similar to the ones inside of the room, but it ran out of view in both directions, giving the impression that outside was a hallway. Her hand on the door knob started to tense, and the other formed into a fist. She swung and hit the glass.

"Oh!" She staggered back, holding her hand. The knuckles were now turning red and starting to swell, and she rubbed them carefully.

The light coming from behind the door darkened. There was a man on the other side, half-light from behind. She took a step back.

"Did you hurt your hand?" He asked. His voice was soft, and a shiver ran up her neck. In this light, he looked sharp and unnatural, holding a large clipboard in his hand.

When it appeared as if he was going to wait for her to respond, she nodded once.

"Shame, but it will feel fine in a moment, I'm sure," he said, bringing the clipboard up to look at. "And your head? Do you still feel hot?"

Her heart was still beating wildly in her rib cage, but her hand no longer hurt, so she let it go. Without really thinking she brought it up to feel her forehead. It felt normal. Dropping her hand, she shook her head. The man nodded and wrote something down on his clipboard.

"Tell me, do you remember anything?" the man said. "My name? Your name?"

There was nothing. No names. She was nameless. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

"I want out of here."

She couldn't remember hearing herself speak until now. Her voice didn't sound like she thought it would. It was young and quiet.

The man ignored her, writing something else down. She stepped towards him.

"I want out of here." She said again, sounding better. Louder, at least.

The man looked almost sad. "My name is Dr. Cullen. I am here to –"

"Let me out!" Now she sounded older.

"- help you, but first you have to listen."

He stared at her, as if waiting to see if she would speak over him again.

"Good," he said. "You are currently underground, so sorry about the poor lighting, we didn't mean to scare you when you woke up. We – of course – being the few people who know you are here. Our group is in charge of inventing helpful tools to later by used by The Avengers. Equipment, usually. But you are our latest idea."

He sounded bored, as if he had been repeating this for days. She tried to put some of the words to pictures in her head. The Avengers. She had heard of that before . . . hadn't she?

"You, as you might have guessed, are one of those tools."

"I'm a person," she said.

He gave her another sad smile. "Well, yes."

She took another step towards him, trying to make out the features of his face in the dim light. There was something about his curving forehead and nose that made Dr. Cullen look like an old bird.

"You might not remember, but you have a gift, and that is why you are here," Dr. Cullen said.

"I don't remember anything," she answered. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

"That would be a side effect," said Dr. Cullen. "See, you are a healer. That's why your hand no longer hurts and why you no longer are running a fever. Whenever you touch someone, you heal them. If I were to have a bruise on my eye right now, and you touched my arm in passing, the bruise on my eye would go away and appear on your own, and then it would heal and you would feel fine."

She stared at him, studying how his lips moved but not his face. Her knuckles were no longer red or swelling. "Why can't I remember?"

The sad smile on Dr. Cullen's face now seemed stuck here. "We thought, we thought that you could heal anything. Everything. But there appears to be . . . limitations. You were healing a very old man who was having memory problems. He walked away remembering everything, and you . . ."

"Forgot everything."

"Yes," Dr. Cullen said. "Apparently your body does not react the same to mental injures as it does to physical ones."

She crossed her arms over her center and noted the feel of cotton. The hairs on her arms were rising in the cold, as she was only dressed in soft black pajama shorts and a plain white t-shirt. Her bare toes on her left foot were silently tapping to her heartbeat.

"I want out of here."

Dr. Cullen still wore that sad smile. "I am afraid I can't let you out."

She wanted to ask why not, but she didn't. Her arms tighten around herself. "If my body heals itself, will I eventually get my memories back?"

"I don't think so." He said. "You've asked me that question for days. I think the best we can hope for is that you remember us talking tomorrow."

For days. She stepped back until she felt a wall and slid to the floor.

"Do I have a name?" She asked.

There was a long, ringing silence. Then he cleared his throat. It was a wet sound. He muttered something she couldn't hear, and left.

She let her head fall into her hands. Dr. Cullen was either trying to keep her nameless, or he didn't know. Maybe she had never told him. Them. Whichever it really was. If she had refused to tell him something as simple as a name, she couldn't have been doing any of this voluntary. They had taken her. Stole her. To carve her into a tool.

Eventually, she fell asleep, and woke up wondering if it had been minutes or days. Time seemed to be just another random fact or skill she could actually remember. Dr. Cullen seemed so relieved that she remembered him when he returned, that for a moment she wanted to smile. It had, then, been at least been a day. We're friends, she thought, and then remembered that she was in a box, cold, and nameless. She turned away and refused to talk to him until he left.

She thinks that she used to be the kind of girl who liked having friends.

They don't take things slow here. She had felt sick the day she had woken up. A cause, she suspected, from healing someone. Which meant that Dr. Cullen had made her heal someone else even though she was rattled by the loss of her own memories the day before she started remembering.

In passing, before he became bored with her ignoring him, Dr. Cullen mentioned how she used to like being here. She doesn't for a second believe him. Had she been here by choice, she wouldn't be in this empty room.

She had a feeling that who she was, and who she is, are about to be two very different people.

Time passed and she stared through the glass door to the empty wall behind it. She fell asleep, woke up, and fell asleep again. At one point she traced her hands over every inch of the square room, but everything is smooth. Not even any cameras. She hasn't needed to eat or ask for a restroom, and wonders if they drugged her somehow.

Dr. Cullen returns with a woman, tall and dark skinned, and introduces her as Fiona. Fiona asks her if she would like to heal someone. She doesn't, but she wants out of this room, so she nods her head. Dr. Cullen and Fiona open the glass door with a key, and although they are trying to hide it, she can tell they are waiting for her to make a break for it, which meant that she has before.

She thinks she was the kind of girl who liked to run.

Instead, she followed them calmly down the hallway, bare feet quiet on the hard floor compared to Fiona's high heels. There are other glass doors in the hall, but as they pass there are no other people inside. She is alone down here. The rooms are full of lab equipment. Tools.

She followed Fiona – whose name, she realizes, is likely not Fiona – up a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway and into the first room on the right. Before the door opens she can feel a pull towards the room. Inside it is a doctor's room, with a chair and a sink and a blank calendar. It reads April 2017, but she isn't sure that she can trust that information. On the table in the center of the room there is another woman with long dark hair braided over a shoulder, and she is crying and clutching at her side.

"This is Jaime," Fiona said. "And she was stabbed today . . . would you mind . . ."

The woman, Jaime, glances up at her. There are tears in her eyes. She could physically feel Jaime's distress from across the room, as if something tight was pressing into her skin. She didn't even consider saying no. She thinks she used to like helping people.

Stepping forward, she placed a hand on Jaime's free arm. "What can I do to –"

Then it hits. She crumples to the floor, clutching at a low rib on her side. It is wet, and she pulled her hand back to see blood. Her own blood. The white cotton t-shirt is slowly soaking and turning red. Her ears start to ring, and she can feel blood building in her mouth. As if far away, she can hear Dr. Cullen and Fiona talking to the dark haired women, telling Jaime that she is free to leave. She squeezes her eyes shut, listening to her own heartbeat in her ears and to Jaime hopping down off the table and out of the room.

The pain starts to fade into a dull ache. Carefully, she stands and lifts her now bloody shirt. The skin is rapidly changing, as it scabs, peals, scabs, turns into an angry red patch, and then back to its normal pale white shade. Gently she touches the area, and it feels tender, but only for a moment.

Dr. Cullen and Fiona smile and nod at each other when they think she isn't looking.

They lead her back down towards her square room, and she glares at the only camera she finds, which is stuffed in a corner on the staircase. In the small room, a new white t-shirt is on the floor. She can't remember ever feeling this tired. Healing takes energy.

She uses the blood on her current t-shirt to write on the wall that has the glass door, so that it can't be seen looking into the room.

 _ **Friends**_

 _ **Running**_

 _ **Helping**_

Curling into a ball, one hand clutching the spot that had been bleeding earlier, as if waiting for it to reopen, she let exhaustion pull her under.

When she wakes up, she is laying on the ground, facing away from the door, and she can see the shadow of a man. She refuses to acknowledge Dr. Cullen.

He clears his throat. It's a sharp sort of sound. She blinks, then whips around.

This man is wearing red from head to toe. His face is covered, and there are two patches of black fabric over his eyes on his red mask. The sides of his suite are black, and there are two sword handles visible around his back. One of his hands holds a gun, the other, a key.

"Wake up Honeybuns," The Masked Man said. "We don't got all fucking day."


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: these characters and the world belong to Marvel. (except my OC)_

 _Thanks So Much to everyone who Reviewed, Followed, and Favorited this._

 _For anyone wondering where all the actual Avengers are, they are coming! Our girl just has to find them first._

 **Chapter Two:**

"This is what you need to know," the Masked Man said, unlocking the glass door before hurling the key down the hallway carelessly. He stepped into the room and took her hand, causing her to flinch before realizing that she was only touching the fabric of his suite, and not his skin. She let him take her hand into his gloved one and pull her out of the empty square room. She thinks she used to like holding hands, before.

She adds it to her list. Friends. Running. Helping. Holding Hands.

The Masked Man started to jog, pulling her along with him down the hallway.

"One: you are stuck in here unless you come with me," He said, starting on his list. "Two: you can call me Deadpool."

They reached the stairs, taking them in twos.

"And three: I am breaking you out of here," he continued. "And then I am going to ask you for one hell of a Thank You."

They continued up the stairs and then he pulled her into a new hallway. She stopped suddenly, her hand dropping out of his. The hallway was red with blood. To her immediate side there is a body with a hole through the head that she wasn't sure came from a gun or a sword, but blood was still oozing its way down the bridge of the body's nose and pooling in their lap. The hallway was full of bodies scattered around the floor. Some wearing bloody white lab aprons, others in sweatpants. She realized that some of these people might not have even worked here, but instead might have been brought here because someone had hoped she would heal them.

She could feel it on her skin, and that was how she knew these bodies were very new. It was the same feeling she had when she had met Jaime, a tightness on her skin, as if her body could tell that someone else in the room needed healing. Now, the feeling was stronger, doubled because of the amount of bodies in the hallway. She closed her eyes and tried to breath.

She could hear The Masked Man, Deadpool, yelling and then muttering at her. She thinks he tells her to move, and then started cussing. But the only thing she can concentrate on is the tightness around her skin and trying to breathe through the uncomfortable sensation.

Still cursing, she can hear Deadpool jog back over to her and take her hand again. Keeping her eyes closed, she let him lead her down the hallway. Slowly, the tightness around her skin began to fade.

"You can open your eyes," Deadpool said. "No more bodies."

She does, and lets him lead her up another flight of stairs as fast as possible. He had stopped his continuous curse words, and she has a feeling that he might actually feel bad about her reaction to the hallway. She doesn't hold his hand in return.

He led her through a maze. Hallway after hallway, staircase after staircase, and always going up. Dr. Cullen had said they were underground. Because of how fast they are running, she thinks someone must be chasing them, but she doesn't see another soul.

And then Deadpool swings open a door and there is light.

Her arm goes up to block the sun from hitting her eyes, willing them to adjust faster. There is a breeze that touches her skin, and she instantly feels better.

Friends. Running. Helping. Holding Hands. Wind.

They are still running, and he still has a grip around her hand. This cement is rough under her bare feet. There is a sudden loud blaring nose coming from behind her, an alarm. Deadpool started cussing again, and then he yelled "Jump!" and without really thinking, she does.

The fall is long enough that she realizes she should have touched the ground by now. Wind whipping around her, her stomach lurching, she gasped silently into the nothingness around her.

And then she hits water.

She inhales water, but before she can really realize what is happening, there is an arm around her waist and she coughs up water and breathes air. The water was loud, and she could barely hear Deadpool as he yelled "Hold onto this."

Both arms around a long log, she tried to breath and take in where she was. The fast flowing river was sweeping them away from a cluster of grey buildings. Deadpool, one arm also around the log, shoots his gun at a group of men running after them, and then the river takes them around a bend and out of sight.

 **X-X-X**

Soaking wet, holding Deadpool's wet gloved hand, she lets him lead her into the back of what she thinks is a taxi. Based on the weak sun and the light cold breeze, it is, she suspects, April after all.

"Hello!" said the cheery driver, as Deadpool started to shove his way into the passenger seat. With shacking hands, she buckled herself in the seat behind him.

The cab driver is Indian, and extremely cheerful and chatty. The two men in front start talking about a woman the cab driver loves who needs to go to a funeral for an ex-lover. Not once does the cab driver ask for an explanation on why they are wet and panting.

"So what is it?" she asked, interrupting them just as they began to talk about whether it would be too awkward for the cab driver to go to this funeral as the woman's date.

"She speaks!" Deadpool exclaimed, and turned to mock whisper at the cab driver. "You know we jump off of a building and still she didn't make a peep."

"This 'Thank You' you want for killing all of those people," she said, heat rising in her voice. "What is it?"

The chatty cab driver suddenly had nothing to say, and stared straight out in front at the traffic. Deadpool slowly turned around to look at her, masked face squinting at her.

"Excuse me Princess?" Deadpool said.

"That's not my name," she said. "Don't call me that."

"You don't have a name," he replied. "I saw your file. I know more about you than you know about you."

She blinked, letting the room fill with silence for a moment. "How did you even know I was down there? I only ever saw three people."

She could tell he knew what she was really asking.

"I know a kid who works for those guys, or a branch of those guys. No one really likes to explain things when it comes to secrete military branches." Deadpool said. "This kid was walking around the main building and overheard some lady talking about you, and told me in passing, and I did my research. You believe me now?"

The cab driver started to drum his thumbs on the steering wheel, humming to himself.

"So those people you killed weren't even bad guys?" she asked.

"There is no such thing as 'good guys' and 'bad guys' Princess," Deadpool said, digging a hoodie from under his seat and putting it on over his red suit. "There are just douchebags with agendas, and other douchebags with agendas. And no one, not even your ungrateful little ass, should be locked up underground and experimented on."

She tucked her legs up underneath of herself. Outside, dark clouds were starting to gather on the horizon, blocking just enough sunlight that the city no longer seemed shiny, just tall and active. Countless taxi cabs shifted in the crowed lanes, making theirs invisible to anyone looking for them. Bikers pedaled between the slow moving vehicles.

"Is that what happened to you?" she asked.

"This is it," Deadpool said, pointing to one of the buildings to the cab driver.

"No money today Mr. Deadpool?" The driver asked.

"High-five?"

The two high-fived enthusiastically, and Deadpool swung himself out of his door. Hands still shacking, she unblocked her seat belt.

"Thank you for the ride," she said, high-fiving the driver uncertainly.

Outside, she was surprised at how many people didn't care about Deadpool's suit, as if they didn't see it once he pulled the hoodie over his mask. He led her down some steps off the sidewalk and into a pub, holding the door open for her and said "Princess" with a bow when she went through.

"Wade!"

The pub was empty except for the man behind the bar, who had half his hair pulled back from a headband. She followed Deadpool towards the bar, hesitantly taking a seat by him and leaned into the bar on her elbows.

"Princess, met Weasel," Deadpool said. "Weasel, this is Princess."

The bartender, Weasel, gave her an awkward grin. She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Sweetheart," Weasel said, before letting go of her hand and turning towards Deadpool. "Where's Vanessa?"

The door to the pub swung open and a women hustled inside, locking the door behind her. "Right here!" The woman said, and came to join them at the bar. Vanessa smacked a large bag onto the counter before kissing Deadpool's masked check. Vanessa was pretty, with a sharp jaw and sharper cheekbones and a pixie cut.

"For you," Vanessa said, sliding the bag passed Deadpool on the bar at her. Carefully she opened the bag. Inside was a mound of clothing.

"Let's go get you cleaned up." Vanessa added, and hopped off of her stool to take her hand and lead her into the bathroom.

The bathroom was only made for one person, and it stunk. She tried not to look at the toilet or the sink. Her bare feet stuck to the tiled floor.

"You can take anything you like," Vanessa said, pulling things out of the large bag, "Although I would dress in layers. And here is a pair of shoes, hopefully they are big enough." Vanessa glanced her over. "Or small enough."

With another smile Vanessa left the bathroom. Once alone, she hesitated only a moment before dressing out of her wet clothes and putting on the dry layers instead. The tennis shoes were two sizes too big, so she placed three extra layers of socks on before tying the shoes onto her feet. Then she turned to the sink and splashed her face with water. When she looked up into the mirror, she was surprised to see the freckles that ran across her cheeks and nose. And noted the dark brown eyes and eyebrows, before fixing her ponytail. The bright white color of her hair seemed oddly out of place.

When she came out of the bathroom, Deadpool had taken off his mask and weapons and had placed everything on the bar countertop. The three were huddled together. She caught a look at the side of Deadpool's face, and turned away. His skin had looked dead. She didn't want to go back over to them until she knew she would be able to really look at him without flinching. She looked around the pub and noted a nearby piano. She sat at it, and although half of the keys were missing, she rested her fingers on the keys and started to play. She smiled. She hadn't known she knew how to play the piano, and wondered if it was muscle memory.

When she realized that the other three were now silent, she stopped playing and glanced at them. She made herself keep Deadpool's gaze without flinching. The longer she looked at it, the more she realized that it wasn't that bad. His eyes, at least, were still completely normal.

Heat rose to her cheeks, she left the piano and joined them, handing Vanessa her bag.

"You're a regular Georgiana," Vanessa said.

"Who?" Weasel asked.

"Georgiana," Vanessa repeated. "You know, Darcy's talented little sister from _Pride and Prejudice_?"

"If you think any of us have read that sissy book you are wrong." Deadpool said.

Vanessa shrugged. "I never read it, doesn't mean I am stupid enough not to know the reference."

Deadpool ignored Vanessa, instead turning towards her and said. "We aren't going to make you do anything you don't want to, but I could really use that Thank You."

She shifted in her seat and tucked her legs underneath of herself again, glancing at Weasel and Vanessa, who were staring at her.

"And," Deadpool went on. "If you want, I know a large metal guy and an emo teenager who would be able to take you to a safe house, which has a man in a wheel chair who might be able to help you."

She nodded. "What's the Thank You?"

Deadpool gave her a half smile, looking guilty. "Healing me."

"Oh."

She caught a look at Vanessa's face, and she seemed even more eager Deadpool. "Okay," she heard herself say, "I mean, I can try. But we are going to need to move to a booth, I might fall down."

The booth they choose was by the front door, and it felt broken when she sat on the green seat. Weasel and Vanessa hovered a table over, as if wanting to be close but trying not to be in the way.

"It's not a brain injury, is it?" She asked.

Deadpool shook his head. "Mutation and cancer."

She nodded, and tried to ignore her audience as she closed her eyes and placed both of her hands on Deadpool's checks.

It took her a moment to find it. Deadpool's body no longer thought that it was injured, but as she kept her hands on his checks, slowly the sensation of something pressing onto her skin started to appear, and then grow. A warm heat started to come from the where her hands were making contact with his skin.

It was a long process, and the feeling slowly grew from a small ache to a pain that rippled from her skin to settle down in the center of her body. The pain spiked, her lungs burned, and then blackout.

 **X-X-X**

When she woke up, she was laying on the green booth with an old, moldy smelling coat on top of her like a blanket. She groaned, lifted her face up and rubbed her cheek. The skin felt scared under her hand.

"Careful," someone said. "You might not want to look in the mirror for a couple more hours."

For the first time she could remember, her stomach growled. "A couple of hours?"

She looked up to see a man standing over her, a glass of water in his hands. She blinked. It was Deadpool, she hadn't recognized him. Not only was the red suit missing, his skin had a healthy glow and looked scar-less.

He nodded, handing her the water. "Yeah, you've been out for a good thirty hours. We didn't want to move you, so we told everyone who came into the bar last night not to bother you, and you slept through all of the noise and everything."

She reached out to take the glass of water and saw her hand. The skin was scared and dry looking. She drank the enter glass, and her stomach growled again. Deadpool left to go get food, and as she waited she watched her hands. The skin slowly becoming less and less dry looking, until only the scars remained. Deadpool – Wade, he told her to call him – waited until she had finished eating the almost cold cheese burger before he said, "When Spidey told me he overheard one of the lab workers talking about you, he didn't believe it, and I didn't believe it, but you are one wonder worker. I have never felt this healthy."

She felt somewhere between wanting to throw up and wanting another cheese burger, but instead she smiled and said, "Good."

"I'll go call up that metal man and angry teenager I was telling you again, get you out of this place," Wade said.

She watched him walk away towards the empty bar before folding up the coat and placing it on the table of the booth. Her hands were back to their normal self again. Pale and smooth. If she could heal a mutation and cancer within someone else's body and her own in thirty hours, those people who had kept her underground where never going to stop looking for her. Anyone she was with was going to be in danger of those people coming after them on the way to get to her. And she was never going back into the square empty room again.

Wade turned his back to her as he spoke on the phone, and she took the moment to unlock the front door and slip outside. There was a crowd of people walking in the streets. Picking up a discarded baseball bap from the ground, she placed it on her head and tucked her hair under her new jacket in hopes of hiding the white color. She tried to disappear in the crowd.

She hadn't completely self-healed from the cancer. She still felt the ache in her lungs, and after about four hours of walking in whichever way most people were heading, she had to duck into an ally to cough until she threw up.

"You okay there?" a man asked.

She wiped her mouth and tried to say yes before she doubled over and threw up again. The stranger came over to her and patted her back.

"Easy does it," the stranger said. She moved to stand upright, and then something collided with the back of her head and she hit the ground. Over the throbbing of her head, she heard the stranger speak to someone on the phone.

"Yeah, I got her, let's bring her in before they notice and contact one of their Avengers."


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: this universe belongs to Marvel._

 _Also, I think I forgot to warn you that this story will have Civil War spoilers._

 **Chapter Three**

A puff of hot, thick air hit her face. She woke to find a giant green head staring at her. With a small squeak, she flung back, scrambling away until she noticed the buzzing and slightly vibrating metal bars that separated her from the giant.

This time she wasn't in a small, square, empty room. This time she was in a cage.

The room as a whole was tall, grey, windowless, and rectangular. There was a single gigantic door on one of the side walls, and three cages lined up on a long wall. The cages were made of buzzing, vibrating metal bars that ran all the way up the tall ceiling, and even continued around the walls that the cages were pushed up against and along the ceiling itself.

She sat on the ground in the middle cage, staring at the giant green person in the cell beside her. The giant was crouched down, staring at her. With another huff, he stepped back and stood up, his head almost touching the ceiling, and then crouched down to stare at her again. She glanced behind her to the last cell, found it empty, and turned back to the giant. He stared at her, sometimes stopping to scratch his dark hair or his knee, or glance at the large, heavily locked door out of reach on the other side of the room. Slowly, her heart started to steady itself.

"Hey Big Guy," she said. "You want to tell me where I am?"

For the first time, an expression appeared on the giant's face. For a moment he looked angry, and then he smirked, stood up to stretch, and came back to a crouch and continue looking at her. There was barely enough room for him to turn around, and she had a feeling that the giant was extremely uncomfortable.

She stood now too, clasping her hands together and bringing her arms over her head to stretch.

"Can't a muscle man like you get us out of here?" She asked.

With another puff of hot air, the green giant flicked one of the vibrating bars with a finger.

 _Zap!_

He yanked his finger back and shook it.

"Big guy like you can't handle a little uncomfortable sensation?" she found herself teasing, but she made a note not to touch the bars. One of the giant's arms was covered hundreds of darts. "They have you on some kind of drug, don't they? Keep you in a weaker state or something so that you can't get out. What kind of drug is powerful enough to do that?"

The giant didn't answer, but he tilted his head as if listening.

"I would offer to heal you," she said, stepping closer to him and the buzzing bars between them. She raised the palm of her hand and concentrated, but she felt nothing except for the vibrating air around the bars. "But I have a feeling that I can't."

She dropped her hand. It was oddly comforting, talking to someone else. It was taking her mind off of the fact that she was in another bad situation.

"I wonder who you are," she thought out loud, then thought that it was rude to wonder about who he was without introducing herself. "I – I am – my name is Georgiana."

The giant blinked.

"Right," she said. "Georgiana it is. What about you? What do they call you?"

He suddenly looked angry again, and he stepped back so that he could sit down in the middle of his cell with his back turned towards her.

"Sorry I asked," she said, but now the giant was ignoring her.

She sighed. There was nothing to do accept wait, so she sat down in the middle of her cell and spent her time watching the door and the back of the green giant. She liked the name Georgiana, she might as well keep it. Her birth name was long gone, along with the rest of her memories. For a moment, she wondered if anyone was looking for her. If she had family anywhere. If they were worried. Deadpool had told her that he had seen her file, that he knew more about her than she knew about herself. But he had offered to take her to some safe house, and had never said anything about her possible family. Maybe her file didn't have information about her relations. Maybe she didn't have any in the first place.

There was a single _BUZ_ of an alarm, and then the door opened. Dressed in what appeared to be some black body armor, which covered everything except for the face, a man walked into the room holding a tray. He put the tray on the ground, turned towards the door, and took off his glove. He placed his hand on a rectangular black and flat box on the wall right by the door, and it scanned his hand before turning green. He pressed in a code, and the door closed itself. Slipping the glove back on, the man picked a small purple tube off of his tray, and shot purple dart after dart between the bars and into the arm of the green giant. The giant did nothing. He simply sat there, ignoring it as it happened, and falling asleep once fifty darts had been placed into his arm.

Once the giant was asleep, the man turned and looked at her. He had a very boxy face, was brownish in skin color, and had a scar above an eyebrow.

"Are you going to drug me?" She asked.

The man seemed almost surprised that she was talking. He shook his head. He took his glove off again and touched the keypad by the door. Once more it scanned his hand, turned green, and he typed something into it. The bars in front of Georgiana stopped buzzing and vibrating. The man came over and unlocked her cage, and without being told she stood up and left the cell. He shut the door behind her, and the bars began buzzing and vibrating again.

"Come," Box Face said, and slapped thick handcuffs over her hands.

She followed him out of the gigantic door, glancing back once to get another look at the green giant. Outside the room was a dim lighted hallway with ceilings even taller than the ones in the rectangular room her cell was in. Everything looked half industrial and half electronical. They passed many armored people in the hallways. Box Face led her towards a new large door and opened it using another hand print scanner. Inside were more cells, all of which were filled of people.

There was a woman in a matching black uniform in the center of the room, looking at the people in the cells. There were five. Five locked up people, and all of them looked worn down and tired. All of them, although they were not green giants, were large, muscular, and had purple tinted veins bulging under their skin.

"They have just been given their shots," the woman said. "And are ready to fight."

Box Face nodded. "Let's get started."

For one awful moment Georgiana thought that she was going to have to fight one of these people. But then the woman led two prisoners out of their separate cells into one empty cell, and started talking to them in a language Georgiana couldn't understand. The two started to fight each other.

They were not ordinary people. These fighting prisoners, one a man and the other a woman, had unnaturally large muscles and speed. They moved as if they had been fighting for years, clean and clear hits, despite how tired they looked. There was a slight purple tint to their bulging veins, which most likely came from drugs being placed into their system. The two prisoners beat each other half to death. Until the woman had a broken leg and a black eye, and the man had a broken nose and elbow.

The woman worker ordered the two prisoners to stop fighting, and they pulled away from each other. Then, she opened the door and looked at Georgiana.

"Heal them."

Box Face gave her back a push forward, and Georgiana staggered into the cell towards the two prisoners. Slowing and trying to appear calm, she reached her hand-cuffed palms out so that each hand touched one of the prisoners, thinking it would be best if the pain just came in all at once. Heat came from where her hands touched them, and sharp, stunning pain shot down her spine. She screamed when her leg and elbow broke themselves, and the ache of the black eye and broken nose set into her face.

When the two prisoners were healed and put back into their separate cells, Box Face picked Georgiana up and carried her out of the room. With her one good eye, she saw all five prisoners watch her leave. Box Face carried her down the hallways and back to her own cell, where he then drugged the green giant again, before leaving her to lie in the middle of her cell, holding her leg with her good arm.

She tried not to cry. She felt her nose snap back into the shape that it was supposed to be, and her elbow twist itself until it was normal again. She fell asleep. She woke up to find that her eye no longer hurt and her leg was healed. Sleeping seemed to quicken the pace of her healing abilities. Her days became a routine. Box Face came into the room, drugged the green giant, and led her back down the hallway to the five prisoners. Two different prisoners fought each other until they had almost killed each other, were given a purple drug shot into their arms by a needle, and then she was told to heal them. Once the fighting prisoners were healed, Box Face would carry her back to her own cell, where she would try not to cry until she fell asleep. Then, Georgiana would wake up, and it would start all over again.

This routine went on for days without change. She started to memorize the recurring details, like the number Box Face punched in the wall scanner to make the bars momentary stop vibrating, or to open the doors. Or the faces she saw in the hallways. She started to memorize the number that was assigned to each of the five prisoners. Number 005 was the strongest, and then a woman who they called 003, then 002, 001, and 004. Each day 002 and 004 gave her a sympathetic look, but the others seemed to become more and more focused on winning the fights.

And then, what seemed like countless days later, Georgiana woke up to find that there was a new prisoner in what used to be an empty cell beside hers.

For a moment, the fact that there was something knew in what had become her daily routine caught her off guard, and she just stared. It was a man, and he sat in the middle of his own cell, arms crossed over his knees, looking at the ground. By the way he sat, it was easy to tell that he was tall and broad. There were large muscles under his long red sleeved shirt. He had long dark hair that fell down and was currently covering his face as he looked at the floor. What was most noticeable, though, was his left arm. It was made of metal. He had a metal arm. Long, almost scale like smooth pieces that formed an arm, a wrist, and a hand.

The green giant gave an unusually large _huff_ of hot air that hit Georgiana on the face. Still slightly weak from healing 002 and 005 from the day before, Georgiana struggled to her feet and walked as close as she could towards the giant, who was staring at her again for the first time in days, as if he too was confused by the presence of their new roommate.

"You hanging in there Muscle Man?" She asked the giant. She raised the palm of her hand up close to the vibrating bars, and to her amazement watched as the green giant did the same, as if he wanted to touch her hand.

 _BUZ_.

Box Face entered the room, drugged the giant, and led her out into the hallways, ignoring the metal armed man completely. Georgiana watched 001 and 003 fight, healed them until her jaw was broken, her arms were bruised, and her knee was causing her to limp. The metal armed man watched as Box Face placed her back in her cell. Georgiana caught the newcomer's gaze, and he looked away. For the first time, she felt a mixture of embarrassment and shame. Facing away from the metal armed man, she curled up into a ball, felt her jaw fix itself, and fell asleep.

When she woke up it was to people talking. Box Face, and another black uniformed man who Georgiana had seen a few times in the hallways, stood in front of the metal armed man's cell. By the color of the bruises on Georgiana's arms, she knew that it hadn't been a full day yet.

The two workers asked the metal armed man question after question, obviously trying to wear him down. Or at the least give the impression that they were going to keep trying until they got what they wanted. But the metal armed man never said a word. He simply sat in the middle of his cell, looking at the floor in front of him. The questions were ridiculous. At one point they asked him for his name, but moments later they called him by "Barnes," which meant that they had already known the answer to their earlier question.

Georgiana listened silently, trying to absorb as much off-hand information as possible. His last name was Barnes. He knew a list of very important people, none of which she recognized. The workers wanted to know where the rest of The Avengers were. They also seemed very concerned about how the location of this place had been discovered.

Barnes said nothing. Tired and angry, the two workers started to head for the door. Before they left, Box Face turned around.

"We don't need you to tell us anything," Box Face said. "We can torture that out of your friends. Rogers was asking after you, by the way, back when he was still conscious. But you, you we are going to keep healthy. Because by tomorrow, we will have your trigger words, and the Winter Soldier will belong to us."

With that, Box Face and the other worker left the room, and the door closed behind them with a loud _bang_.

Barnes, for the first time, stood up and started pacing his cell. The questioning had taken so long that the bruises on Georgiana's arms had healed. The door slamming shut had woken up the green giant, who grunted and shifted uncomfortably. Barnes caught Georgiana watching him, and this time she was the one to look away as if guilty.

Time passed, and after he had paced every inch of his cell countless times, Barnes sat near the bars that separated his cage from Georgiana's with his back facing her.

Without the other men in the room as a distraction, she realized that there was a very small, barely noticeable pressing sensation on her skin. Barnes was injured, then. In some small manner. She tried to ignore the feeling, but after trying and failing to sleep for what felt like hours, she gave in. Quietly, because she didn't know if he would want her to help or not, or if he was sleeping, she crept over towards his cell and carefully reached an arm through the buzzing bars to touch the skin on the back of his neck.

"Ow!" She yanked her hand back so violently that she fell onto the middle of her floor. Pain pulsed in her skull, and she grabbed her head in both hands and shut her eyes. She bit her lip in order to keep from screaming and laid as still as possible.

The pain lasted a very, very long time. At one point she was aware of the metal armed man – Barnes – finally speaking. "Hey, are you alright?" At another point she prayed that the pain would knock her unconscious. Mostly, she hoped that she wouldn't lose her memories again. And then she decided that she would be okay with that as long as the pain stopped. She told herself she was never going to heal someone's brain ever again. She waited and waited and waited.

Finally, the pain started to fade, and she let go of her head to press it onto the floor and hoped that it would feel cold. It did not.

"You alright?"

She couldn't answer Barnes. Instead, she tried to breathe normally again and still hoped that she would fall unconscious. When she felt like she could open her eyes, she found Barnes crouching down, staring at her. He had very intense blue eyes.

"Are you alright?" He repeated.

She realized that no one had ever asked her that before. Forcing herself to sit up, she nodded. "Mental injuries are the worst, I think."

His eyebrows rose. "What does that mean?" He asked slowly, as if lost.

"Please tell me you didn't have memory problems," Georgiana said, rubbing her temple and making sure she remembered everything since she had woken up in that square blank room days ago.

Still speaking slowly and quiet, Barnes said, "No. I remember everything."

"Good," Georgiana said, still rubbing her temple. "Because I just decided my name was Georgiana and the only person who knows is a green giant who can't talk and is drugged so much that he can't break us out of here, either."

Barnes squinted at her, and Georgiana wasn't sure if he was trying to understand what she said, or if he didn't believe what he was hearing.

Someone screamed. Georgiana's head whipped towards the door, where the scream was coming from in the hallway outside. When it stopped, Georgiana curled up into a ball, shut her eyes, and tried to fall asleep in hopes of escaping. Even if escape was only unconsciousness. After the screaming stopped, it echoed in her ears.

She needed to get out of here. And she was ready to do anything to do it.

 **X-X-X**

When she woke up, the two men were once again in front of Barnes's cell. There was a new, third man behind them, and he held a small red book in his hand. Georgiana stood, trying to get a better look at the book. The man with the book was speaking in another language, reading from an open page, as Barnes attacked the bars of his cell.

"Stop!" Barnes yelled at them, his metal arm punching the vibrating bars.

"Vozrashcheniye na rodinu," said the man holding the book.

Barnes gave an angry shoat, punching over and over again.

"Odin."

"Don't!" Barnes yelled, still trying to break out.

"Gruzovoy Vagon."

Barnes stopped, panting hard.

Box Face stepped forward, and with a clear voice, said, "Good morning soldier."

"Ready to comply," Georgiana said.

The words slipped out. She blinked, wondering why she had said them. Everyone's heads snapped towards her. The man who had been speaking in a different language had his jaw open, the others looked as confused as Georgiana felt. Barnes stared at her with such intensity she felt the need to check if she was on fire.

"Good morning soldier," the main holding the book repeated.

And again, without meaning to, Georgiana said "Ready to comply."

The men glanced between Barnes and Georgiana. The one who had been speaking in a different language was turning red in the face.

"She healed him," Box Face whispered. Then, "SHE HEALED HIM!"

The third man looked panicked. "Good morning soldier," he tried.

This time, Georgiana said nothing. The impulse had left. Barnes was still staring at her, blue eyes fixed on her face. Swelling up like a balloon, Box Face punched a wall. He stalked towards Georgiana's cell.

"You BITCH!" Box Face yelled, pulling a pistol out from behind his back. "You stupid little –"

He fired his pistol.

Faintly, as if far away, Georgiana heard the shot go off, and the green giant yell, over the ringing of her ears. She actually felt nothing. Nothing except for a numbness in her center. She looked down to find her hands already on her stomach, and pulled them away to see blood.

She fell, and then everything went dark.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

There was a numbness that kept Georgiana under. At moments, she was aware of the green giant puffing hot air into her face as he breathed. Sometimes she heard Barnes speaking in chopped up sentences which never seemed to actually form any words or meanings. There were moments when spikes of pain shot up and down her spine, or an ache would be noticeable in her stomach. Mostly, she felt nothing, and floated in and out of awareness.

Little bits of information, like sparks of thought, ran through her head as she came in and out of consciousness. She knew that things had to happen quickly. These people were fine with killing her now. If she was going to get out of here, she needed to do it before something happened that she couldn't heal from. She knew the codes to open the doors and kill the power in the bars from walking with Box Face every day, she would just need the hand of someone who worked here to get past the scanners on the walls. She didn't actually know the way out of the building, or how to fight, or even how to wander around without being seen.

Groaning, her eyes fluttered open and focused on something shiny in the otherwise red vision. It was the bullet, covered and surrounded by a pool of blood. Her body had pushed it out while healing. Georgiana clutched her arms around her stomach, and still groaning, rolled onto her other side.

"Hey, hey can you hear me?"

Not completely aware who was speaking, Georgiana nodded her head. She started to cough up some of the blood in her mouth, the muscles in her stomach protesting. Somewhere between panicked and calm, she looked towards her center and unwrapped her arms to tug up her shirt. There was still a hole where the bullet had entered, and it was both oozing and scabbing. She tugged the shirt down and wrapped her arms back around her center, as if trying to hold everything in her stomach in place.

Georgiana started to focus on the things around her. The green giant was staring at her again, and in a very similar stance Barnes was hovering as close as he could in his cage. Both of their expressions were hard to read, stuck somewhere between concern and uneasiness. The people who worked here had forgotten to drug the green giant today, and he looked extra alert. She realized that it would be odd, to watch someone's body heal from being shot without any help. The attention made her self-conscious, and she struggled to sit up, aware that her cell floor was full of blood.

"I thought you were dying," Barnes said.

It was still hard for her to breathe. "I think I was."

She suddenly needed to stand up, to be out of her own pool of blood. Wavering onto her feet - "Careful," Barnes said - blood rushed to her head and she waited for it to settle. She took deep breathes and focused on her balance. The floor was slick and sticky by the blood, and she carefully made her way towards the front of her cell.

"You should lie down."

"They tried to kill me," she said.

Barnes had followed her up towards the front of the cells, still hovering as close as he could without being zapped by the bars.

"Yeah," he said. "Because you . . . you fixed my mind."

Georgiana nodded. "Which means they don't have a reason to keep you here anymore, either."

"I really think you should sit down." He said.

"I'm waiting," she said. "Stay right there."

To her surprise, he didn't move, and they didn't have to wait very long.

BUZ.

The door opened and Box Face came marching into the room, a large syringe full of the purple drug in one hand and a gun in the other. Not a little pistol this time, but a large gun Georgiana didn't know the name of. Box Face was making a beeline straight for Barnes, passing right in front of Georgiana's cage.

Reaching her arms between the vibrating bars, she snatched hold of Box Face's shoulders and pulled, yanking him towards her. Box Face collided with the bars, and she locked her arms together and pulled back with all of her weight. In order to keep him from getting away or pulling back enough that he was no longer touching the cell, she had to rest her elbows on the bars and pull until his entire back was pressed into the vibrating cage.

They both screamed. Georgiana imagined it was something like being struck by lightning. Her body seemed to burn, she could smell smoke and burning flesh. They vibrated until there was a loud POP! and they went flying.

Her legs kicked in the air, and Georgiana landed hard on the blood wet floor of her cell. She started to fade in and out of awareness again, but never went fully under because of the uncomfortable wetness on her ear that was touching the blood on the ground. She tried to blink until she regained her vision. Her arms and elbows were black and burnt. Box Face laid motionless on the other side of her cell. His entire back was black, burnt, and smoking. His eyes were open and unseeing.

She had to wait a moment in order to get her vision completely back, but then she scrambled forward and reached between the bars to grab the keys around Box Face's belt. She was able to pull on the keys until they snapped free from the string attaching them to the belt, and then reached forward again to get his remote. She was careful not to touch the bars again. If she actually wanted to get out of here, she needed to be awake enough to do it. She had a feeling that if she had to do any more healing today, she wouldn't be able to.

She pointed Box Face's remote to the scanner on the wall and hit the button in the center. The bars in the front of her cell stopped buzzing, and she reached around and unlocked her cell door. Pushing it open, she wrapped both arms around Box Face's shoulders and with a grunt started to drag him towards the scanner by the door. Weak from being zapped, and still in pain from being shot, it seemed to take forever to drag the body across the room. Georgiana struggled to lift Box Face up high enough that she could get his hand close to the scanner. Before she placed it on the black box, she turned towards Barnes.

"Wait right there."

There must have been some frantic look in her eye because he said nothing and nodded once, eyebrows slightly raised and looking alarmed.

She pressed Box Face's hand into the scanner. It turned green, and dropping Box Face, Georgiana pressed in all the codes that she had learned. There was a small beep, beep, beep, and then all the bars stopped buzzing and vibrating, their power gone.

The green giant let out a loud, ear drumming yell. Covering her ears, Georgiana ran back towards her cell.

"Just wait!" She yelled towards Barnes over the sound of the giant.

The green giant, within seconds, tore the bars of his cell into pieces. Puffed up and angry, awake from not being drugged yet today, the giant rammed through the wall that had the door, breaking a hole in the wall and charging into the hallway.

There was chaos. Swarms of black armored workers ran forward to shoot purple darts into the giant, or even fire guns. The giant swung his arms, sending people flying, and continued charging down the hallway and out of sight, workers both running after and away from him. As the crowds of workers scrambled in the hallways, Georgiana turned towards the metal armed man.

"I know most of the codes," Georgiana said. She gestured to where Box Face was lying on the ground. "But we need his hand to pass the scanners, and I can't carry him."

"I need to find my friend," Barnes said.

She nodded. "Okay. If they keep prisoners near the same area than I know the general direction."

In the brief absence of workers running in the hallway, Georgiana and Barnes ran out of their cells. As Barnes bent down to pick up Box Face's body, she peered around the side of the hole in the wall into the hallway. The way was clear.

"This way," she said, and then hesitated as she watched Barnes shift Box Face's body onto his shoulder. In a quieter voice, she added, "I can't really fight."

Barnes came to stand by her, a full head taller, and also peered around the wall into the hallway. "Seems like you can handle yourself."

Georgiana glanced at Box Face's open, blank eyes, then looked away. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. What in the world was she doing? She had killed a person. The urge to throw up sudden appeared. She had not planned this out. Georgiana wrapped her burnt arms around her center, still feeling as if she was holding her guts in place, and breathed hard.

"Hey," Barnes said, almost gentle. "I'm not going to ditch you."

With a deep breath and another nod, she started to jog, running down the hallway in the opposite direction as the green giant, and towards the five prisoners she had been healing and watching fight for days. She knew she could have been faster, but the longer she went the harder it became. She needed to sleep and heal. Barnes ran behind her, and as she slowed to glance around a corner before speeding back up, she saw him take Box Face's large gun and pull the strap over his head as they ran.

They reached the door that Georgiana knew the five prisoners were in without running into any workers, despite the loud noise to the giant's yells and gunfire in the distance.

"This one," she said, and Barnes put Box Face's hand on the scanner. It turned green, and Georgiana typed in the code to get the door open. Once inside, she found the other scanner and started typing in the code that would kill the power in the bars of the cells.

"What is she doing?" said 003.

"What is happening out there?" said 002.

Barnes leaned towards her. "Who are these people."

The power in the cells went off, and all five broke off the locks to their doors by crushing it in their hands. Without even acknowledging Georgiana or Barnes, 001 and 004 sprinted off and disappeared. 005, who stood taller and wider than Barnes, came to stand in front of her. Barnes tensed beside her.

"Why you help us?" 005 asked.

Georgiana had never heard him speak before, and it was a heavy, deep voice. English sounded harsh on his tongue, and she realized that not only was it not his first language, but she might not even be in an English speaking country.

"Don't let them catch you," Georgiana said.

A little smirk and a hint of admiration flashed over 005's face. He turned towards 002 and 003. "Come," he said, and they ran off.

Barnes's relaxed slightly when they were gone.

"Let's try a couple of the nearby doors for that friend of yours," Georgiana said, and Barnes nodded.

They ran to the nearest door and Barnes put Box Face's hand on the scanner. It turned green, and Georgiana typed in a code. The door opened, and the room was full of computers. The next door was a bathroom. And then next door, after it scanned Box Face's hand, turned red when Georgiana tried to type in a code.

"I don't know this code," she said. Her arms still burned. Barnes dropped the body and pushed her aside, then punched the wall scanner with his metal arm. His arm went through the wall, and when he pulled it back he was holding wires in his hand. The door opened.

"That works too," Georgiana said quietly, and slipped under Barnes's arm into the room. The room was full security screens, and Georgiana got a glimpse of the green giant thrashing around in what looked to be an air hanger in one of the small screens. Barnes came up behind her.

"There," he said, pointing to one of the screens. "Room 135."

But another room had caught her attention on a screen below. "What is that?"

Barnes leaned down and squinted to where she was pointing.

"Their equipment," he said. "Good find, that room is on the way."

Without needing to carry Box Face, and with Georgiana no longer needing to know the codes, Barnes led the way through the hallways. He was fast, and she was surprised that she could almost keep pace with him. If she hadn't been so injured, she might have been able to keep up. At the moment, however, she was falling behind.

They rounded a corner and came face-to-face with four armored workers with guns. Georgiana flinched and stepped backwards, but Barnes lunged forward. With a hard kick to the chest Barnes sent one of the men flying into a wall. The other three were down in seconds. Barnes glanced at her, and they were off again.

They found the equipment room first. Barnes went in before her, and as she entered he started shoving things into her burnt arms. There was a black belt that had multiple pockets and a gun, a briefcase that was shinny and red, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. Barnes had what appeared to be a set of metal wings under one arm, while his other hand held a red, white, and blue shield.

"This way," he said, already passing her and heading towards a door marked 135. He broke the scanner on the wall and the door opened. Inside were more cages.

"Bucky!" A blond man in one of the cells called, standing onto his feet.

Distracted by the man and walking towards him to talk, Barnes forgot to break the scanner inside the room, so Georgiana dropped the gear in her arms and turned towards it to press in the code that would cut the power to the bars. Behind her, voices were starting to talk over each other. Georgiana realized she had been very wrong to assume they were only saving one more person. As she shut off power to the bars and turned around, six people broke out of their cells and started grabbing the equipment she had dropped.

"We didn't know what had happened to you."

"They told us they knew how to trigger the Winter Soldier."

"What was that noise?"

"We thought we heard the Hulk."

There was a red-headed woman, and a dark haired girl, a tall and broad blond man who slapped a hand on Barnes's shoulder, an African-American man who was shoving the wings onto his back, a shorter man who reached for the bow, and a dark haired and scruffy man who bent down and grabbed the red briefcase. As he touched the briefcase, it started to transform. Georgiana jumped, and quickly moved in closer to Barnes. The briefcase moved in little pieces as it expanded. First, it covered the man's arm, and then continued to cover his entire body except for his head until he was in a complete metal suit. A light on his chest light up.

"It was the Hulk," Barnes said, completely ignoring the transforming briefcase. "They have been keeping Banner in that state for days using some purple drug."

The red-haired woman stepped closer towards Georgiana, who in turned took another step towards Barnes.

"This the girl?" The red-haired woman asked.

"That's her," said the man in the metal suit. He gestured to Georgiana's white hair. "Can't you tell?"

"How did you get out?" asked the dark haired woman. She had a small accent. "I couldn't even use my powers pass the bars."

Barnes nodded towards Georgiana, which seemed to make the man in the metal suit happy. The man stepped towards her, his heavy suit loud on the ground. "Good job kid," he said. "Got any more plans?"

Everyone fell silent, waiting. Georgiana felt heat rise to her cheeks. She was suddenly very aware that she felt sick, likely looked sick, and was covered from head to toe in her own blood. "The bulk of my plans usually revolves around making friends," she admitted.

The man in the suit smirked, and the man with the bow said, "Fair enough."

A hand fell onto her shoulder, and Georgiana flinched. The hand left immediately, and Georgiana looked up to see the tall blond was standing by her side.

"Might not want to touch her," Barnes said. "She heals people by contact and still needs to recover."

The tall blond nodded and gave Georgiana a kind smile. "We are going to get you out of here," he said. "This is Natasha, Wanda, Tony, Clint, and Sam." He gestured towards Barnes. "You know Bucky. And I'm Steve."

It was a little overwhelming, having them all stare or wave or nod at her. She realized she didn't like the attention, and added it to her list of things she knew about herself. Friends. Running. Helping. Holding Hands. Wind. Shy.

She gave a small wave, feeling awkward. "Georgiana."

The man in the suit, Tony, clapped his metal hands together once. "Alright, let's divide and concord, then meet outside," Tony said, and the suit changed again so that it covered his face. "Sam and Barnes, get Georgiana out of here. Take the underground passage we saw on those maps. Clint and Wanda, get make sure you have a sample of this purple drug and steal one of their airplanes, we're flying out of here. Rogers, there is a man somewhere in this building named Andrew McCaffrey, as far as we know he is in charge and we need him for information. Go get him. Once you have him, I'll need you to cover me, so work fast. Nat, get as many files as you can. Make sure you know what they are pumping through these bars before we leave, and what they plan to do next. But be quick, I might need your help."

Natasha blinked. "What will you be doing?"

Tony's suit began to glow, and he started to elevate off of the ground. "I'm going after Banner."

Flying, he shot out of the room and disappeared.

Natasha pulled something out of one of the pockets in her belt and passed a small ear piece to everyone. Georgiana held it carefully in her hand until she saw Wanda gesture for her to slip it inside her ear.

"If anyone needs help, call," Steve said.

Clint and Wanda took off. Steve grabbed Natasha's arm as she went to pass him.

"How long will this truce hold out between us once we're out of here?" Steve asked in a low voice.

Natasha shook her head. "I don't know. Guess we'll have to find out. It seems like he trusts you for the moment." As she walked out the door, she added to the group in a louder voice. "Be careful, we've already underestimated these guys." And then she was gone.

Steve went for the door next. "Sam, if I'm not on that plane with you, don't let Tony take off with Bucky and Georgiana."

Barnes stepped forward so that he stood by Georgiana's side. "We'll be fine," Barnes said, and Steve left.

"Alright," said Sam, once Steve had disappeared around the corner. "The underground passages started on the North end of the building on the maps, which way is that?"

Barnes pointed in the direction no one had yet gone down, and they started to run. As they went, Georgiana noticed the slowed pace, and how both Sam and Barnes were keeping her in-between them as they ran. Around one of the corners they ran into a large group of workers and 001 fighting. Barnes shoved Georgiana back as he charged forward, and between Sam, Barnes, and 001, the workers were down in moments. 001 took off almost immediately, and Sam moved as if to take chase, but Barnes pulled him back. "Another prisoner," he said. "You ready to keep going?"

Sam jerked Barnes's hand off. "Am I ready?" Same said, sounding both amused and irritated. "Man, you never change."

The three of them started to run again. They came to the end of a hallway, and Sam told them the underground passages should start here. Barnes reached down with his metal arm and ripped up the floor. Underneath, there was a solid silver handle. Lifting it up, it looked like there was a long drop down into darkness.

"After you," said Sam, and Barnes shot him a look before dropping down.

"It's clear," Barnes's voice echoed up faintly.

Sam motioned for Georgiana to step forward, and she peered deeper into the darkness. She couldn't see a thing. She wondered how far the drop was, and if she would be able to heal from it. Was there a limit as to how much she could heal in one day? She had already been shot – her stomach still hurt – and she had burned her arms while electrocuting herself.

"It will be okay," Sam said.

There was a very quiet static sound in Georgiana's ear from the earpiece given to her by Natasha.

"Cover," Tony's voice said through the earpiece. "Cover! I need air cover! These guys are shooting at me now instead of Banner! North side of the building. Now please!"

Through the earpiece Georgiana could hear the roar of the green giant.

"I'm five minutes out," said Natasha's voice.

"On my way," said Steve.

"I'm close," said Sam, pressing one finger to his ear to talk to the others. "I'll be there in a moment." Sam took his hand off of the earpiece and turned to Georgiana. "Time to jump, make sure Bucky gets you out of here. Don't get on that plane with just Tony."

With a deep breath, Georgiana jumped. To her great relief, she hit the ground a moment later. She had barely registered the fact that she had landed when she felt Barnes lift her back onto her feet. Above them, Sam shut the door, and everything darkened.

Heart beating wildly again, Georgiana reached her arm out. She felt Barnes's shoulder, and then ran her hand down his metal arm to intertwine her fingers with his metal hand as she glanced over her shoulder to see if anything was behind them. Her eyes started to adjust to the dim light. It helped, holding hands. Especially since she knew she wasn't holding skin, and therefore wouldn't be in danger of healing anything and hurting herself until she fell unconscious. Barnes held very still for a long moment. Georgiana started to pull away, realizing that in the dark she couldn't judge his expression and that he might be uncomfortable.

His metal fingers wrapped around her hand. "Come on."


	5. Chapter 5

_Hello everyone! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favorited! You guys are seriously the best and make my day._

 _I know this story is a little plot heavy at the moment, and I am slowly trying to fill in some holes or answer some questions, but if you let me know if there is anything in the plot that you are confused on so far, and I will try to answer it within the next chapter._

 **Chapter Five**

Georgiana couldn't tell if her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, or if they were walking towards a light source, but she started to see better all the same. Still holding Barnes's metal hand, she had to walk a step behind him because of the narrowness of the tunnel. She could see the outline of his other hand tracing the wall as they walked. Every once in a while he would stop to listen, causing her to first run into him and then hold her breath until he started walking again.

From their earpieces they could hear everyone else update. Clint had recently checked in saying that he and Wanda were now heading towards the air hanger to find a plane. This update was received by what Georgiana could only describe as multiple levels of sass. Tony, Steve, and Sam all seemed to have some quick remark about currently being outside and under fire, while also dealing with the Hulk. Natasha hadn't updated. Neither had Georgiana or Barnes. Georgiana had no idea how to actually use the earpiece, and Barnes seemed to be focused on leading them out of the underground tunnel.

Bucky, she reminded herself. His friends had called him Bucky. Only the people keeping them prisoner had called him Barnes.

"We stole a ride," Clint's voice came through the earpiece again. "We're going to fly it towards the South side of the building, a couple miles out so that these guys don't take it back before we get the chance to leave."

There was no reply, and Georgiana could tell that everyone was too busy and concentrating to reach their earpiece. It felt overwhelming, suddenly having to think of a group of people. Of a team. Only days ago she had been completely alone. Only moments ago she had only had Bucky. And now she was trying to keep track of six people who weren't even in the creepy underground tunnel.

Bucky stopped in front of her, and she bumped into him again before standing up on her toes to peer over his shoulder.

"The tunnel splits," he said. "Right or left?"

"I killed that man."

The words spilled out. Walking along the tunnel had slowed her heartbeat and collected her thoughts. Without the distraction of trying to get out of the building, of having to lead instead of follow, everything seemed to be catching up with her. To stop walking, just for a second, seemed to be the last straw.

"I killed him and I set that green giant out of his cage, so I killed everyone he kills, too. How many people do you think that is? And Deadpool, he killed an entire hallway to break me out from the other group of people who had me first, so I'm to blame for their deaths, too." Georgiana said. She pulled her hand out of Bucky's and crossed her burnt arms over her tender stomach. Her entire body ached and burned. "I've only been able to retain my memories for a couple of days, and look at the damage I've already done." She closed her eyes, as if that could keep the imagines away. She wasn't sure why she kept talking. "I'm a monster."

Georgiana thought for a moment that she might cry. She did not. She was too tired to cry. And too use to crying because she could physically feel other people's pain that she wasn't sure if she knew how to cry for her own.

Bucky cleared his throat uncomfortably. The sensation of something tight pressing on her skin was starting to reappear faintly, meaning that someone was injured. She felt Bucky's hands come to rest on her shoulders, so that his non-metal hand still didn't touch her skin. It was an almost thoughtless gesture that she found extremely thoughtful.

"You're not a monster," he said. She looked up at him, although in the dark she could only make out the outline of his face. "I know monsters, and you're not one of them." He waited until she nodded once, and then he took her hand in his metal one again.

"Now let's go," he said, and went to turn right. She tugged him to a stop.

"Left," she said. "There are people injured that way, so that must be where all the fighting is."

They went left, he didn't ask her how she had known which way to go, and for that she was grateful. After walking only a few minutes they stopped.

"Trap door," Bucky said, and let go of Georgiana's hand. Suddenly there was light everywhere. Squinting, Georgiana waited for Bucky to climb up out of the tunnel, then followed. They were in an outside garage, cars and motorcycles everywhere.

"There they are!"

A large group of workers, armed in their black armor and their guns, starting charging towards them. Bucky yelled at her to move, so Georgiana flipped back around and started after him. Bucky reached a bike, and as it revved into life, she hopped on behind him. He floored it, and she flung her arms around him to steady herself.

"We need to get you to that plane so that I can join the fight," Bucky yelled over the wind as he drove. Behind them, the group of men where left in the dust.

They drove out of the garage and started down the road. Getting his bearings, Bucky drove the bike off of the road into the surrounding woods. The trees were thick and dense, but the ground was level and clear of brush. She held on tight. It was only minutes before they entered a small clearing and slowed to a stop in front of the strangest looking plane Georgiana had ever imagined. It appeared to be a cross between a plane and a helicopter. It had a ramp open, so that the bike could have just driven inside, but instead Bucky pulled the bike to a stop. Wanda stood in front of the ramp.

Georgiana slipped off the bike as Wanda approached them.

"There is no point in going after them," Wanda said, addressing Bucky. "Clint went to bring them back. The team should be here any moment."

As if on cue, Sam landed beside them in the clearing, wings out. He was holding Natasha.

"She was shot," Sam said, quickly walking up the ramp and into the plane. Everyone hurried behind him. Sam's wings started to fold as they entered what appeared to be a small commons space in the middle of the plane right behind the open pilot area.

"It's nothing," Natasha said, she was holding her arm above her elbow. "It went through. I just need some stitches."

Sam placed her on one of the plane chairs, which looked hard and uncomfortable.

"And Banner?" Wanda asked, who was digging through compartments under the chairs until she pulled out a very small first aid kit.

Sam shook his head. "Tony couldn't get him to stop fighting. When Nat got there he kind of calmed down, but then she got shot and he bugged out on us again."

Steve and Clint came charging up the ramp, panting.

"If we don't move now the Hulk is about to enter the plane," Clint said, rushing past every to take the seat in the front and starting the engine. The call of the green giant suddenly boomed, making the plane shake. Still close to the ramp, Georgiana could see the giant running their way through the thick forest. Tony, flying in his red shiny suit, shot past her into the plane. His suit was smoking, and he took it off as quickly as possible and flung it out of the plane moments before it sparked itself on fire.

Someone yelled to move the plane, but over the sound of the green giant yelling again Georgiana couldn't tell who was speaking. And then the giant was in front of the ramp, staring down at Georgiana in the same way he had when they had been in cages.

Heart pounding, and ponytail starting to whip her in the face as the plane's engines started the rotating wings of the plane, Georgiana reached out a hand like she had earlier. The green giant hesitated, and then did the same, until their palms were almost touching. Then, he started to shrink.

Stumbling backwards, Georgiana landing inside the plane on the floor near Natasha. The green giant began to change. His color changed as he shrank, and then he was just a dark-haired, exhausted, everyday looking man.

People were talking, and Tony pulled what had been the green giant inside the plane as the ramp started to close. The plane, now closed off from outside, lunged upward into the air. Tony and the man stumbled forward, and a couple of the people reached out to steady them as Clint flew the plane up into the clouds.

Georgiana simply started, shocked. Her jaw might have fallen open.

"Don't worry," Natasha said behind her, "Bruce just does that."

Natasha reached her good hand down to touch Georgiana's arm in a comforting gesture. Pain shot through Georgiana and settled above her burnt elbow as she unexpectedly found herself healing Natasha by accident.

"No don't!" she heard Bucky say, and he reached towards her as if to push Natasha away. But Natasha's hand had already flinched back. Multiple voice filled the plane once more, and then blended together as Georgiana once again, fell unconscious.

 **X-X-X**

"I'm trying to fix this, how can you not see that?"

"You can't blame me for being a little wary here, Tony. You and I have very recently had a bad track record."

"And whose fault would that be? You're the one who didn't sign the Accords, splitting the Avengers apart. You're the one who kept information about my family from me, Captain."

The voices became slowly louder, until they were distracting enough to wake Georgiana up. Her eyes fluttered open to find the world on a tilt. She was lying down on her side, someone had placed her on a row of chairs so that they acted like a bench and had pulled an itchy blanket over her. Tony and Steve stood in the middle of the small open space in the plane. Both looked puffed up and angry.

"And for that I'm sorry, really, I am. But those Accords that you believe in, they are what got us into this mess," said Steve. "One of their branches made the order to steal this girl, lock her up, and experiment on her. And you knew nothing about it until your little spider friend overheard someone talking about her and blabbed to his kill happy buddy."

The Avengers. Georgiana had heard of that before. Dr. Cullen had said she was being trained to be a tool for them.

"And the moment I heard about it I came to you to set things right. I'm here right now, fighting beside all of the people who sided against me on those Accords," Tony said. He poked Steve hard in the chest. "I sent your little Bucky a new arm, despite what his old one did to my suit. I gave you your stupid shield."

Steve shook his head. "But you still agree with the Accords. You still want to send her back –"

"I agree with parts of the Accords," said Tony. "Like the part where the whole world wants them. Obviously this girl is proof that there needs to be some amendments."

Still slowly shaking his head, Steve crossed his arms. "And you're the guy to do that."

"I don't see you stepping up."

Behind them, Natasha was still sitting in her chair, looking at the ground and ringing her hands together. She looked completely healed. The man who had transformed from the green giant – Bruce, Natasha had called him – was asleep a few chairs away from her, also covered by a blanket. Sam stood to the side of the room, arms crossed and frowning. Behind Steve, Bucky was sitting on one of the chairs, also staring at the floor. Turning her head, although it made her neck sting to move, Georgiana saw that Wanda was sitting in the co-pilot seat. She was turned in her chair and looking towards Steve and Tony with wide eyes. Clint stared out into the sky as he flew the plane. Outside the windows it was starting to get dark.

"I understand that we can't take her back weapon branch," Tony said, deflating slightly. "But you need to meet me halfway here."

Georgiana's vision blurred in and out of focus, but she tried to concentrate over the need to fall back asleep.

Steve started to deflate as well. "I guess the first step is figuring out where to go now that is safe."

"Going to be hard to find," Sam chipped in. "With the whole world looking for us plus these new guys who want to make some sort of super drug."

"And super soldiers," said Natasha, not looking up. "Apparently they were injecting the drug into five subjects. Making them grow, gain muscle and speed."

Things were starting to piece themselves together. First, she had woken up in a blank box of a room, which had been the weapon branch of something called the Accords. The Accords were something Tony was a part of or agreed to, and something Steve didn't. After she had left the weapon branch, she had been taken again by someone who even these people didn't know.

"We saw one of those guys running around the building," said Sam.

"Georgiana freed them," Bucky said. His voice was quiet.

"Good," said Tony. "Might buy us more time."

"Did you find out how they got Banner?" Steve asked, turning to Natasha.

She shook her head. "No. But I'm going to."

"So where do we go from here?" Wanda asked.

Another wave of tiredness hit Georgiana. She knew she healed better when she was asleep.

"Not many choices," Tony said, he gestured towards Bucky. "Things become extra limited when you're keeping a guy who more and more people seem to know the trigger words to control."

Bucky shook his head, finally looking up. "Those don't work anymore. She . . . healed me, I guess."

"Convenient," said Tony, but there was a nasty inflection in his voice.

Georgiana let her eyes close, sleep moments away.

Clearing his throat, Clint spoke up from his seat. "I know a place."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"She's waking up."

Georgiana groaned and opened her eyes to find eight faces peering at her. She felt herself turn red. Sitting up in her chair, she felt momentary dizzy.

"You've got good timing," said Clint, walking towards her from the pilot seat. "We just landed."

"And where is that, exactly?" Tony asked, pulling a lever that started to release the ramp of the plane.

Clint folded Georgiana's itchy blanket and set it aside. "An old cabin of mine. Back before Laura and I started having kids. It's small, but it's safe." Clint knelt in front of Georgiana. "How do you feel?"

"Thirsty," she said, and he chuckled. Still dizzy, she let Clint wrap an arm around her and help her down the ramp.

Outside, the sun was setting, causing the sky to turn pink and orange. They were on what looked to be the top of a large hill, snow peaked mountains surrounding them. An open, airy forest was starting to enclose around the cabin, but the land in front of the actual building was open and smelled of sweet long grass. From the outside, the cabin looked small, old, and charming. Clint led her up the front porch and unlocked the door. Inside, all the furniture was covered by tarps. Clint let her go, and Georgiana leaned on the open door frame as he shuffled around and starting pulling off the tarps.

Outside, the others were starting to gather in a huddle near the plane. They seemed to be talking in hushed voices. Georgiana caught Bucky looking at her, and quickly looked away, her face turning red again.

With all of the tarps pulled away and shoved in a corner, Clint pulled her inside the cabin.

"Are they talking about me right now?" She asked, as he led her into the living room.

"No. At least, I don't think so," Clint said. "They wanted to talk to Banner. We didn't know how you would react to that."

Which was fair, she realized, as she had started to panic when he had transformed from the green giant into a normal looking person. Clint led her past the living room to the open kitchen. Inside the cabin the rooms were small, but there was an open layout and a coziness about the place. Clint handed her a bottle of water from a cabinet in the kitchen.

"Drink that," he said. "I'm going to start the generator."

On his way out the kitchen backdoor he opened a few of the windows. Alone, Georgiana leaned on the kitchen counter and downed the water. Then, she opened the same cabinet and grabbed another bottle. Clint came back inside, and flicked on the lights. Rubbing his hands together, he led her back into the living room and then towards the only three doors in the cabin.

"The center one is the bathroom," he said, opening the door and turning the light on to show her. "We should get hot water. And this-," he took her out of the bathroom and to the door on the right, which faced the front of the house "-is the green bedroom. And this-," he led her to the door on the left "–is the blue bedroom."

He led her inside the blue room and started digging through a tall hutch full of clothes. It was called the blue room after the grey blue color on the walls. Besides the hutch, the room had a large bed with an orange and white quilt, a desk, a nightstand with a lamp, and a small bookshelf. Georgiana wandered around the room, opening windows and taking tarps off of all the furniture.

"These should fit you," Clint said, handing her a soft pile of clothes. "They were Laura's. We kept the cabin fill of some essentials just in case we ever had to make a quick escape."

"Laura is your wife?" Georgiana asked, as she followed him back out of the room. He opened the bathroom door for her.

"Yeah," he said. "You should take a shower. You're kind of caked in blood, and it might help you feel better. I'm going to see if there is anything here I can make for dinner."

It was the cleanest little bathroom Georgiana could remember being in. She turned on the shower, placed the clothes Vanessa had given her in a hamper, and stepped into the shower to scrub off the blood that had dried on her skin. Her stomach, she noticed, finally looked normal again. Although it was still slightly tender. Her arms no longer looked burnt, but instead were simply bruised. Once the dried blood was gone, the only thing that really looked like a new injury was a spot above her elbow, where Natasha had been shot.

She dressed herself in the sweatpants and loose t-shirt that Clint had given her and left the steaming bathroom, pink from the heat of the water. She braided her hair over her shoulder as she stepped into the living room. Looking out the windows she noticed that everyone except for Clint was sitting on the front porch, talking in a huddle. Following the smell of food, Georgiana re-entered the kitchen.

Clint immediately handed her another bottle of water before turning back to something he was cooking at the stove. "We keep this place stocked with canned foods."

She nodded and sat at the table in the chair nearest the kitchen. The kitchen was tucked slightly away out of sight from the living room, but from her spot at the table she could watch both Clint moving around the kitchen and the others outside on the porch.

"Feeling better?" Clint asked.

"Yes," she said, distracted. "Thanks."

"Hey," he said, and waited until she looked away from the window and kept eye contact with him. "We aren't keeping you prisoner here." He stepped towards her and placed a kitchen towel over her hand, and then grabbed her hand. For a moment she thought it was a very odd thing to do, and then she noticed the small cut he had on his face and smiled. He didn't even want her to heal his cut. At that moment, she trusted Clint more than she had ever trusted Wade or Vanessa.

"You say the word and you can go, alright?" Clint said. She nodded. Satisfied, he took the kitchen towel off of her hand and went back to cooking. "I found an old cell phone you can have, a toothbrush, things like that. They are in a box in the blue room for you. Do you know how to use a phone?"

"I think so," she said, recalling a picture of one even though she couldn't remember ever seeing one in real life. "Although I think I would rather know what is going on."

Clint placed something off of the stove and then came to sit at the table beside her. He pulled out his own cell phone and brought up a video.

"Let's start near the top," he said. He showed her multiple videos, all of which were news reports talking about The Avengers and showing pictures of them defending the city. Most of the videos showed happy bystanders talking about how thankful they were for each hero, but many of them focused on the damage done to the cities. The last video was one about the signing of The Sokovia Accords.

"Each of us has a different back story, but we came together when we needed to," he said. "But after so many people started focusing on all the damage to buildings, or all the people we couldn't save, the world decided to make the Accords. The Accords take away our choices, and instead we would be acting under the rule of a National Board. Tony, Natasha, and some other people considered heroes signed it. Steve, Sam, Wanda and I did not. Along with some others."

"And Bucky?" Georgiana asked. "Or Bruce?"

"Bruce was still in hiding; he might not have even known it was happening." Clint said. "And Bucky, well, a lot of people who don't know him see him as a villain because of things he did that weren't in his control."

Georgiana remembered how quickly she had said 'ready to comply' after she had healed Bucky.

"He is an old friend of Steve's," Clint continued. "Those two are tight. Between taking different sides on the Accords, and taking different sides on Bucky, The Avengers were split apart."

Georgiana frowned. "But you guys are together now?"

"Well, yeah, momentarily anyway." Clint said. "Because of you."

She blinked. "Me?"

Clint nodded. "Behind the back of the people who are on the main broad of the Accords, some people in the weapons branch took you, in hopes of . . ."

"Making me a tool," Georgiana said. "I remember."

"A kid, one of the heroes who signed the Accords, Peter, heard someone talking about you and made the mistake of telling a friend of his before he told Tony," said Clint. "Tony was livid when he found out that they had taken you. But by then you were already gone. That's when Tony contacted Steve and sent Bucky a new metal arm. As a peace offering."

Outside on the front porch, Steve put a hand on Bucky's shoulder. Tony had his arms crossed over his chest and sat on the porch railing.

"So Tony is not going against the Accords?" Georgiana asked.

"For the moment," Clint said. "He didn't want to get his friends in trouble, so he decided it was better if he reached out to Steve. Steve and the rest of us were already in trouble."

From the window, they could see Bruce glaring over at Natasha as he talked.

"And those people we just escaped from?" Georgiana asked.

Clint sighed. "Another secret organization we never knew about until we were able to hunt down the fact that they had you. We didn't even know they had Bruce." Clint took out his phone again and started pulling up pictures. "We couldn't find much stuff on them, actually, except for the fact that they call themselves The Departed, and are led by a man named Andrew McCaffrey." Clint showed her a picture on his phone, and to Georgiana's surprise, it was Box Face. "This is McCaffrey. Did you ever see him?"

"Yeah," she said, her voice slightly shacking. "I killed him."

Clint's eyebrows rose, and he said nothing as he put his phone away. After a long moment of silence, he walked back into the kitchen and started shuffling food around again. Clint started to put large bowls of green beans, baked beans with bits of bacon, corn, and other cooked canned foods on the table. Georgiana got up to help him set the table, and Clint disappeared momentary before bringing out extra chairs from the garage. Once the table was set and water bottles were placed in front of every chair, Clint tapped the front window with his knuckles, and everyone started to come inside the cabin in silence.

One by one everyone washed their hand's in the bathroom or kitchen sink before coming to sit at the table and scope food onto their plates. Georgiana found herself sitting between Clint, who kept dishing extra servings of everything onto her plate when she wasn't looking, and Bucky, who refused to meet her gaze. Natasha was the last to sit down, and she sat by Tony, across the table from Georgiana.

"Thanks for dinner Clint," Natasha said. Her voice was light and friendly.

Trying to keep the lightness Natasha had started, Georgiana smiled and said, "Yeah, you made a little Thanksgiving feast, thank you."

At the word 'Thanksgiving' everyone's forced smiles dropped and they all stared at her. Clint scoped her another serving of green beans.

Tony pointed to his own head with his fork. "You remember Thanksgiving?" he asked. "We were all under the impression your memory was lost."

"It . . . it was," Georgiana said, and felt her face go red once again. "I have a little bit of muscle memory though. I found out I can play the piano. I also remember facts, really random things." Nervously she tucked some stray hairs behind her ears. "I just don't remember anything personal."

Then something odd happened. One by one everyone looked at Bucky, starting with Steve and ending with Tony. Bucky tensed beside her.

"Did I say something wrong?" Georgiana asked.

"No," Natasha said, giving her a small smile. "It's just, an _almost_ similar story."

The rest of the dinner was eaten in silence, leaving Georgiana to reflect about the word 'Almost.' She and Bucky almost had a similar story. She almost felt normal here, around this group of people who, according to the videos Clint had showed her, where even more strange than herself. She was almost healed again. She felt almost completely safe in this cabin. She could almost remember anything.

When everyone was done, Natasha and Clint started to clean up the kitchen while everyone else pulled out the hide away bed in the couch, or piled blankets and pillows on the living room floor. Georgiana disappeared into the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she came out, Bruce was slipping into the green room. He said nothing, but he shot her a small smile before he closed the door. She realized she had never actually talked with him, only the green giant who could never talk back.

"You staying?" Clint asked Tony, as Wanda and Natasha got on the hide away bed.

"For the night," Tony said. "I haven't figured out where to go yet, seeing at this is my first time being wanted by more than one government."

It looked like everyone was spending the night. Seeing her hesitation, Clint pointed her towards the blue room.

"It's all yours," he said.

Georgiana reached out to touch the sleeve of his hand as he went to close the door. "I trust you," she whispered. "Am I going to regret that?"

"Not if I have anything to do about it," Clint said, and then shut the door.

Georgiana climbed into the bed and stared up at the ceiling. The air, despite the open windows, felt still. Outside the room everything was quiet. She tried to sleep, looked around the room when she couldn't, and tried to sleep again. But what if it was like the tunnel? What if, because she was no longer thinking about how to save her life everything caught up with her again?

Realizing it had been three hours since everyone had gone to bed, Georgiana slipped quietly out of her room, around the group of people sleeping in the living room couch and floor, and out of the front door. She had planned to sit outside on the porch and feel the night chilled wind on her face, but the air was still. Spotting a wooden swing attached to a large tree some little ways away, Georgiana took her socks off and walked over to it barefooted. She swung on the smooth wooden swing without much energy, content to be outside and have a little breeze on her face.

She absentmindedly rubbed her arm that was still healing from Natasha's wound. What was the line that separated the things that she could heal from the things that she couldn't? Why was it she could heal from being shot or stabbed or cancer or mutation, but not her own memories?

The front door of the cabin opened, and Bucky stepped outside onto the porch. His metal arm reflected slightly in the moonlight. He looked a little surprised to see her, and with a glance over his shoulder made his way towards her. He sat down, leaning on the trunk of the tree that her swing was connected to, and he looked up at the stars.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable in there," Georgiana said. "I didn't know about the . . ."

He nodded his head. "I know."

They almost trusted each other. They were almost friends.

She wondered where this cabin was. It must have been miles away from anything because the night sky was bright and clear above the leafing trees. Facts about stars started running through her head, and she wondered if she used to study them. Stars were memories. Light millions of years old showing where a ball of gas was, or had been once, out in the universe.

"Can't sleep?" Bucky asked.

She shook her head, and when he waited, she admitted. "I'm a little afraid to dream. I haven't yet because every time I've fallen asleep I'm been healing, but I'm mostly healed right now, so I might dream."

She could tell that he almost said something. Instead, they sat together in silence. She rested her head on the rope of her swing.

"You don't have to stay out here with me," she said.

Bucky didn't reply. She studied his profile in the moonlight. There was something fitting about Bucky under the massive starry sky, staring up at the distance balls of light in a dark universe. There was no tightness on her skin, so she knew he wasn't injured, but he almost liked like he was. Her quiet companion. He had been the first person she met who hadn't asked her to heal someone. She realized she would have healed him now, if she could.

But he was made of memories.

And that was something she could never heal.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thanks again to anyone who followed, favorited, or reviewed! You guys are great! I love hearing from you guys so don't be shy!_

 **Chapter Seven**

Eventually, Bucky fell asleep, his head resting on the tree trunk. In her bare feet, Georgiana slipped off the swing and tiptoed inside the cabin. It was hard to see, but she managed to grab the blanket and pillow Bucky had left on the floor of the living room near Steve, who was deeply asleep on his stomach. In the blue bedroom, she took one of her pillows, the cell phone Clint had given her, and an extra blanket before slipping back outside.

Georgiana carefully pulled one of the blankets over Bucky. Gently, she took the back of his neck in one hand so that she could pull his head forward enough to slip a pillow behind it. Setting his head carefully back into the pillow, she brushed some of his hair out of his face. Taking the other blanket, she wrapped it around herself, and placed her pillow up against Bucky's leg in hopes that if he moved the pillow would too and wake her up.

Laying her head on her pillow, she starting digging for information on her cell phone. For a while, she looked at videos. Silently, she watched Steve save a girl with his shield, Tony fly a missile up into a hole in the sky, Bruce as the green giant take out a group of flying machine people, Clint shooting arrows, or Wanda creating red balls of energy. Then there were others, people she didn't know. Like a person people called Spiderman stopping a car from hitting a bus, or a tall blond named Thor who carried around a hammer. When she stopped watching videos on silent, she found an article about a man who could turn into the size of an ant, and another about a man referred to as War Machine.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed she put away her phone, nestled in closer to Bucky, and tried to sleep.

 **X-X-X**

When she woke it was to the sound of birds. Georgiana was in the blue bedroom and the sun was just starting to rise outside her window. Her cell phone was on the night stand, it read 5:12 a.m. Swinging her legs off the bed she found that the socks she had left on the porch the night before had been pulled back onto her feet.

It seemed as if she and Bucky were still looking out for one another.

From the bedroom window, she noticed that there was a small worn down dirt path that disappeared into the woods. Deciding to take a morning run and test how much she really did enjoy running, she dressed in a pair of athletic shorts and a tank top she found in the hutch and quietly slipped out of her bedroom.

Immediately she ran into Bruce, who was obviously sneaking out of the green bedroom. He put a finger to his lips and pointed towards the living room, where everyone seemed to still be asleep. Georgiana followed him out the front door and then towards the garage. Inside the garage was a green truck and a white car. He started packing boxes into the car.

"Where will you go?" Georgiana asked, very aware of the fact that for the first time he would be able to reply to her.

"Anywhere," he said, shifting a couple of boxes he had in the back seat. "Can't stay here."

Georgiana frowned, "But it's safe here."

"It isn't the place, it's the people," said Bruce.

"Oh."

Right before he stepped into the driver's seat of the car he stopped and sighed, then he stepped out and looked at her.

"I never thanked you," he said, "for how you treated the other guy, when we were cell mates."

It took her a moment to figure out who the 'other guy' was, especially considering the hated inflection he had used. He saw himself and the green giant as two different people, she realized, or at least he tried to.

"The other guy isn't so bad," she said.

Bruce's lips twitched into a small, brief smile. "I knew there was a reason he liked you."

"Do you really have to take off? Everyone will be worried," Georgiana said.

"No they won't," he said. "They are used to me taking off. And I should go. I cause more damage when I am trying to do good then when I am trying to do nothing."

There was something very sad, about seeing Bruce prepare to take off alone. It seemed very likely that despite the fact that there might be two very different people thinking in his head, he was still the loneliest person she would ever meet.

"You're doing it again."

Georgiana blinked. "Doing what?"

"The 'I want to help and heal people' face," Bruce said. "You used to do it all the time."

Georgiana's heart leaped into her throat. "You knew me? Before?"

"I wouldn't say I knew you," Bruce said. "But I met you once. About five years ago I was traveling in Africa, and someone told me that they knew a white-haired witch who could heal anything. I found you in hopes that you would be able to get rid of the other guy. You couldn't, of course. But you gave me that same look."

"What was I doing in Africa?" Georgiana asked.

Bruce shrugged. "You never told me anything about yourself."

It was odd, knowing that she had a life that she couldn't remember. There was no way of knowing if she was anything like who she had been.

"Tell Clint I'm sorry I stole his car," said Bruce.

Still shocked from the sudden information about her past, Georgiana simply nodded. Bruce made a move as if to touch her, take her hand or hug her or something, but then he seemed to think better about it. Although Georgiana couldn't figure out why, considering he already knew she could do nothing for him.

"Do me a favor, alright?" Bruce said, getting into the car and rolling down his window.

Georgiana nodded.

"Don't let these guys use you," he said. "Make sure you are always the one making your own choices."

"I will," she said.

"Good," he said. "Guess I'm off."

"Good luck."

She watched the car until it disappeared out of sight down the road. She didn't know what it was she had been looking for while talking to Bruce, but she felt as if she had found it and lost it in the same moment.

Georgiana stretched for a moment, excited to find that her muscle memory seemed to be familiar with the action. Starting with a jog, she followed the path she had seen out the blue bedroom window. The dirt path was narrow and curved around the open forest. The birds were still very loud, and the air smelled like pine cones. Her legs felt strong, and besides the little bit of bruising left on her arm, she seemed to be completely healthy again. Someone had put up mile markers around the trail, and when she reached the fifth marker she paused. She was sweating, but breathing fine. The sun was starting to warm up the trail, and suddenly she realized that she was hungry. Turning around, she jogged the five miles back to the cabin.

She slowed down as she came to the side of the house.

"You're welcome to stay for as long as want."

Georgiana stopped, recognizing Clint's voice, where he must have been on the front porch around the corner. She whipped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her arm.

"I wouldn't want to intrude."

That was Bucky. Georgiana glanced over her shoulder, making sure that no one was behind her. She could hear people moving around inside the cabin.

"You know," Clint said. "I spent some time as a zombie. Under Loki. I didn't get to choose what I did. Nothing compared to you . . . but . . . I did bad things . . . and it was me, you know . . . except it wasn't."

Realizing how personal the conversation she was eavesdropping on was, Georgiana's face turned red. She heard the front door open.

"You are more than welcome to stay as long as you want," Clint repeated, and then the front door closed.

Biting her lip, Georgiana walked around the corner of the cabin. Immediately Bucky's head snapped towards her. He was standing on the porch, both hands on the railing and looking tense.

"Where have you been?" He asked.

"Went for a run," Georgiana said, avoiding eye contact. "There is a trail in the backyard."

"Why are you all red?" he asked, as she came up the steps and opened the front door.

"Um," she said. "It's hot out, and I ran a long time."

She slipped inside, deciding to make a break for it before he could ask her what she heard.

Everyone stopped and stared at her as she came inside, and she wondered if it was possible to become any redder than she was at this moment.

"Georgiana! Where have you been, we were worried about you," said Wanda.

"I went for a run," she said, trying to make a break for the bathroom. "I couldn't sleep."

Tony caught her arm and pulled her to a stop. "Did you see Bruce this morning?"

Georgiana opened her mouth, then shut it. Everyone was looking at her. Steve and Sam were frowning, as if they already knew the answer. Clint was looking up at her from a bowed head. Tony looked half crushed already. She realized why Bruce hadn't wanted to say goodbye, they wouldn't have wanted to let him go. She met Natasha's gaze, and realized that the redhead looked slightly puffy, as if she had been upset and was now trying to hide it. Georgiana's stomach sank.

"Yes," Georgiana's said quietly. "He said he was sorry that he stole Clint's car."

They said nothing. The front door opened again, and Bucky walked inside. He froze when he noticed everyone staring at her, and shot her a questioning frown.

"He seemed sad about not saying goodbye," she added.

Satisfied, Tony let go of her arm, and then refused to look at her. In fact, everyone's eyes dropped to the floor. Georgiana turned into the bathroom to take a shower. She leaned against the door after it was shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. Outside the bathroom everyone continued to be silent.

 **X-X-X**

"And you'll be okay here?" Clint asked.

"I'll be fine," Georgiana said, laughing. She sat with her legs up underneath her on the co-pilot chair of the plane as Clint fiddled in the pilot seat. The sun was high in the sky, and it was becoming a very warm spring day. Getting out of the shower, Georgiana had found a lime green summery dress in the hutch of her bedroom and followed Clint outside as Natasha had one last planning conversation with Steve.

Clint and Natasha were leaving. They both wanted to see his family, and after that they planned to continue investigating The Departed. Tony and Wanda were planning to leave later in the day. Tony had received a call telling him that the National Board behind the Accords had decided to place the other heroes who had signed the Accords under house arrest, in hopes of preventing them from joining Tony. So naturally, Tony was going to break them all out and take them to another safe and more roomie location. To everyone's surprise, Wanda had immediately volunteered to help him, saying with a shrug "It would be nice to be helpful again, and I might be missing Vis." Georgiana still hadn't figured out what a 'Vis' was.

"You know the tree that has a swing?" Clint asked. "It has a fake branch that faces away from the house, if you open it up there is money. You should use it to buy better food. Can't live on canned goods forever. And you might want a computer. Your own clothes."

"Do you make a habit out of taking in strays?" Georgiana asked.

Natasha walked up the ramp of the plane. "He always has. Why do you think the two of us are friends?"

Natasha no longer looked puffy. Instead, she looked happier and more driven ever. Georgiana wondered if it was because she was getting back into the mission or from the idea about seeing Clint's family. Getting out of the chair, Georgiana leaned over and hugged Clint. It was the first hug she could remember having, and even though it caused her to heal his small cut, she enjoyed the action.

"Call us if you need anything," Clint said once she pulled away.

Natasha gave Georgiana's arm a small squeeze as she got into the co-pilot seat. "Once we have some information on these guys we'll be in contact."

With another nod and a smile Georgiana left the plane, and watched it until it flew out of sight.

Turning back towards the cabin, she found Tony waiting for her on the porch. Her phone was in his hand, and he waved it at her as she bounded up the steps.

"I inserted F.R.I.D.A.Y. into your phone," Tony said. "Hope that's okay. I figured she could help you adjust to your new life."

"What is a F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" she asked, taking her phone and peering at it. It looked the same as before.

"A natural-language user interface and artificial intelligence that runs half of my life," Tony said. He pulled out his own phone and said, "F.R.I.D.A.Y., could you give me an update on when my plane will arrive?"

From his phone came the voice of a Scottish woman. "Your plane should arrive in approximately five minutes, Mr. Stark."

"Thanks F.R.I.D.A.Y.," said Tony, then shrugged at Georgiana. "I thought you might find her handy."

Georgiana spied her phone. "This isn't your way of tracking me, is it?"

Tony put on his sunglasses. "One of F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s traits are that she can't be tracked. Wouldn't want my enemies to get into her."

She slipped her phone into her pocket and thanked him. She studied his profile as he looked towards the open field.

"What?" he said, without looking at her. "Stop staring, you're starting to creep me out."

Turning slightly red, she looked away. "Nothing, it's just, what would you have done if you had found out about me before Deadpool?"

Tony shrugged. "Knowing me, probably the exact same thing I already did."

There was a distant rumble as a small plane came into view. Tony turned to look at her, his arms loosely crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face.

"You know what?" He said. "I found out about you the day after I admitted to Pepper that I wanted to set things right."

"Pepper is your wife?" Georgiana asked.

"No, no." He said. "Just a girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend who has always helped me run my life and currently runs my business. We're still trying to make it work, somehow."

The plane landed in the open yard, and looking through the glass in the front of the plane Georgiana realized that it had flown itself here. From Tony's pocket, she could hear F.R.I.D.A.Y. tell him the plane had arrived.

"Still," Tony said. "It's a little ironic. We find you, who can heal anything, the day after I started to doubt what I had done in the past."

Wanda, who must have seen the plane from the window, opened the front door. She stopped when she saw them, and awkwardly slipped back inside as if to give them more privacy.

"But I guess even you can't heal the past," Tony said.

Without really thinking, Georgiana stepped forward and gave him a small hug. It only lasted a few seconds, and he didn't really even respond until she started to pull away. Then, she smiled up at Tony, whose expression she couldn't read because of his sunglasses.

"I doubt anyone really knows how to heal the past," she said. "But maybe this is where we start."

 **X-X-X**

After Wanda and Tony left, no one seemed to know what to do. Steve had said a friend was coming up, and should arrive in the late afternoon tomorrow. The hope was that his friend might be able to help Georgiana find some information about her past. But until then, they just had to waste time. Georgiana helped Sam cook dinner, but disappeared out the backdoor when Sam, Steve, and Bucky sat down to eat. Her body still wasn't used to eating regularly again, likely because of whatever drug the weapons branch had given her still hadn't gone completely out of her system, and eating too much made her uncomfortable. She hoped the drug would pass soon and she would be able to eat regularly again.

She took the trail she had run on earlier and walked down it barefooted, this time taking her time to look around instead of focusing on how far she could run. There was a small opening in the path that led down to a small stream, and she still took it, jumping the stream and lying down on the other side.

Bucky found her just as the sky was starting to turn orange from the sunset.

"Are you ever going to sleep inside?" he asked, lying down beside her. He was close enough that she could feel his heat even though they weren't touching. Without looking at him she pointed towards her elbow.

"I'm completely healed now," she said.

"I doubt you'll have bad dreams," he said, sounding distant and distracted.

When the stars started to appear in the sky, she let Bucky pull her up and followed him up the trail in the direction of the cabin. He was wearing a simple t-shirt, and she realized that it was the first time he hadn't tried to cover his metal arm with clothing.

"Did it hurt?" she asked, taking an extra couple of steps to catch up to him as they walked.

He frowned. "Did what hurt?"

Carefully, she took his metal hand in hers, indicating that she meant the metal arm. She wasn't sure how to address it out loud.

"A little," he said. But he was lying.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Georgiana dreamed she was Jaime.

She was walking down an alley. In her dream, she couldn't feel the late night cold wind, but she saw how it made her coat flap and hair tangle. She glanced behind her, and saw that there was still someone following her at a distance, looking like nothing more than a tall shadow. She started to run, and didn't stop until she reached a door that led up to her apartment. She went to pull the door open, and a hand grabbed her and turned her around. The shadowed man took her purse and stabbed her in the ribs.

Georgiana woke up screaming and clutching at her side.

The door to the blue bedroom swung open and Steve, Bucky, and Sam came in looking as if they were expecting a fight. Realizing no one else was in the room, they all seemed to soften. Georgiana barely noticed them. She carefully lifted part of her shirt to check her rib. It looked fine. She pulled her knees into her chest and hid her face.

"I'll go get her a glass of water," Sam said quietly, and slipped out of the room.

The bed dipped as Steve sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Georgiana leaned into him.

"I was Jaime," she said, her words mumbled because she refused to take her face away from her knees. "I was Jaime when she was stabbed."

Steve started rubbing circles on her back.

"Who is Jaime?" Steve asked gentle.

Georgiana realized that she was panting and sweating. "The first person I can remember healing. She had been stabbed when I healed her. And I just saw it happen." She looked up to Steve. "It was a memory of something I never actually saw. Someone else's memory."

Steve looked over at Bucky, as if he would be able to answer. Bucky was leaning in the door frame, his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants and his head bowed even though he was looking at them. He said nothing.

"Is this going to happen every time I fall asleep and I'm not healing from something?" Georgiana asked, pulling Steve's attention back. "Am I going to have to re-live all of these injuries?"

Steve squeezed her tight into a side hug.

"I don't know." He told her, and despite the unhappy answer it made her feel better that he was telling her the truth. "You've been through a lot, your subconscious might just be trying to process everything."

Sam reappeared and came over to sit at the end of the bed. He handed her a glass of water, and she untucked herself from Steve to drink it. Steve and Sam convinced her to lie back down and try to go back to sleep. When she did, they pulled a blanket she had kicked off back onto the bed. When they left they kept her bedroom door open.

Georgiana curled up onto her side so that she could look out the open door. The three of them left a lamp on in the living room, where Sam and Steve had been sleeping. Just as Georgiana was about to doze off she heard the three of them whispering.

"You really think she gets visions about the injuries she heals?" That was Sam.

"Who knows?" came Steve's voice. "She doesn't even seem to know her own powers."

"She has better control over her powers then you think," said Bucky quietly. "I think she can sense injuries."

Bucky, Georgiana realized, was very observant.

"She healed my head," Bucky whispered, "If she really does dream about how the people she heals become injured . . ."

He trailed off, and it was so quiet that Georgiana actually tilted her head slightly so that both of her ears were off the pillow.

"We'll find a way to keep it from coming to that," Steve whispered back.

 **X-X-X**

It was still very early when Georgiana woke up. She went for another run down and up the path through the woods, found the fake branch Clint had told her about and gathered a couple handfuls of dollar bills, and took a shower before anyone else woke up. Bucky came out of his bedroom just as she was heading back outside.

"I was going to go to the nearest town and buy some food," she whispered, as Sam and Steve were still passed out in the living room. "Want to come?"

Still rubbing his eyes, he frowned, nodded, and slipped into the bathroom. She went outside to the garage and got into the driver's seat of the truck. Asking F.R.I.D.A.Y. where the nearest town was, she was surprised to find that it was only a half hour away. Still looking tried, Bucky slipped into the passenger seat.

"You remember how to drive?" he asked, his voice rough from sleep.

She started the truck and backed out of the garage. "I guess so."

The drive was quiet except for the radio and F.R.I.D.A.Y. speaking every once in a while to give directions. At one point a song started playing on the radio that sounded familiar, and Georgiana became so excited that she started jumping in her seat and sang along with the chorus of the song as she drummed on the steering wheel. Bucky laughed at her, and it was good to hear him laugh. It created a pool of warmth in the center of her stomach. When they arrived in the town it was small, and had a very old looking main street. The town was set in a valley, mountains surrounding everything, and a small lake sat by the edge of town. She parked the truck between a clothing store and a grocery store.

"I'm going to run into there and buy some clothes," Georgiana said. "Meet you in the grocery store?"

For the first time today Bucky seemed a little tense, and he pulled a pair of gloves on his hands so that his metal arm was completely covered. He only seemed comfortable with her taking off without him when she promised that she would be fast. Which, thanks to an employee who took a fancy to Georgiana's white hair and went around collecting different clothing items, she was. Georgiana raced across the street when she was done and bought a laptop, then placed them in the truck and went to go find Bucky.

It was a small, crowded store, where the aisles were barely wide enough to fit two passing shopping charts. Georgiana started to wander through the store, peering down every aisle looking for her friend. She found Bucky at the opposite end of the bread aisle, where he was studying a brand label.

A hand caught her elbow just as she was about to make her way over to Bucky. She whipped around to find a rather tall, weasel looking man grinning down at her.

"I think you dropped this, Miss?" The weasel man said, showing her an empty shopping chart.

"No," she said, slightly relieved that it was just another friendly town person. "No, I didn't."

"You sure?" Weasel Man asked.

"Yes," she said, and tried to tug her arm out of his hand.

His hold on her elbow tighten. "Where are you from, Beautiful? I know just about every face in this small town, and I know I would have remembered seeing you."

Georgiana tried again to tug her arm away. "Let go."

Weasel Man continued to leer down at her. "You don't have to be like that, Baby, if you aren't here shopping for food I know you are here shopping for men."

From behind another arm wrapped around her shoulders, and she immediately recognized the weight of Bucky's metal arm. The grin on Weasel Man's face dropped, and he let go of her.

"This man bothering you, Georgy?" Bucky asked. She wrapped both arms around Bucky, hugging him from the side. She wasn't completely sure if she held on to him because it helped her feel safe or if she was trying to make sure Bucky didn't actually take Weasel Man out.

"Sorry," Weasel Man said, hands in the air as he backed away. "I didn't know."

"He shouldn't have to know," Bucky muttered as Weasel Man took off. Bucky rubbed her back. "You alright?"

Nodding, Georgiana pulled out of the hug. Bucky, however, held on to her hand and pulled her down the aisle to his shopping chart. She let him lead her around the store as he finished, not really paying attention to what he was putting in the chart.

Without the Weasel Man around, she realized that Bucky seemed a little different. He was more relaxed than usual. It was easier for him to smile, he talked to some strangers who greeted them a happy good morning with ease, and although he had never seemed to mind when she reached out to touch him, here he was the one who liked to keep physical contact or stay close to her. He seemed very happy to be away from the safety of the cabin. Or, he seemed happy to be away from the people at the cabin. Which of course didn't make sense, as he was close to Steve, and even Sam, although the two often bickered.

"Here," he said, handing her a small paper bag. Smiling, she peeked inside.

"Plums," Bucky said. "They help with memories."

The smile slowly faded as she looked down at the bag of plums. Without really thinking, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Bucky in a tight hug. He froze, but she held on. Slowly and carefully, she felt his arms wrap around her. Barely touching her, but still responding. She felt him exhale from where her head rested on his chest.

"Thank you," she said, and pulled away. She stared down at the plums again, and then glanced up at Bucky. He was frowning slightly and studying her.

"Come on," he said, and to her surprise wrapped his real arm over her shoulder and started leading her towards the front of the store. "We should head back."

While they stood in line at the checkout counter, Weasel Man glared over at them from two rows down. Feeling uncomfortable with Weasel Man glowering over at her, she leaned back into Bucky. With less hesitation than ever before, he wrapped both arms around her and placed the top of his head on hers. The happy pool of warmth returned.

They put everything in the truck and started back towards the cabin. The town roads were now packed with people who were likely on their lunch hour, and the traffic was slow.

"You seem more at ease out here," said Georgiana, glancing over at Bucky while she drove. "Is there a problem with the cabin?"

Bucky shrugged. "It's just nice to be around people who don't pretend to know you."

The car in front of them stopped suddenly, and Georgiana flung her arm out to the side as she braked so that her hand was between Bucky and the dashboard. The truck slammed to a stop, and she scowled at the car in front of her.

Laughter bubbled out of Bucky. It started quietly, as if he was trying to stop it and then he seemed to accept it and let the laughter be loud. Pulling her hand back onto the wheel, she shot him a questioning look.

"Sorry," he said, still laughter. "Sorry. It's just funny."

She frowned. "What's funny?"

"You," Bucky said, "Thinking that you needed to protect me from the airbag that wasn't even going to go off."

"That's not funny," she said. The car behind her honked, and she turned back to the road and started driving again. Her face slowly heating up. His laughter had made her feel light before, but now that it was pointed at her it didn't sound as nice.

Bucky sighed, but when she glanced at him, he still looked happy. "It's nothing personal, Doll. I just thought it was funny that you always have to be the healer."

Georgiana stared ahead as she drove and bit her lip. She took the last turn that would lead them out of town and back towards the cabin. The warm pool in her center suddenly felt as if it was rotting. She felt small. Weasel Man had reminded her that she was an easy target, she couldn't even pull her arm away from him. And now Bucky was laughing at her reaction to put herself between him and the possible airbag.

"Doll?" She mouthed soundlessly as she drove. Then said, " _Doll?_ What does that even mean? Like a _china doll_?"

Her hands gripped the steering wheel. She could sense Bucky watching her and refused to look at him.

"I am not a china doll." She said, voice rising. "I am not some, some fragile little play thing that people can move around and manipulate. Or hang on a shelf when they are bored. I am not someone's puppet for when they need me."

The lightness in Bucky's voice was now gone. "That is not at all what I said."

"I don't just heal people because others ask me to," she continued. "I do it because it physically hurts if I don't. And I didn't just start healing those five people The Departed were drugging because they asked me too, I did it because I knew that if I did what they asked me to without fighting them that I would be able to learn the codes on those scanners."

"It hurts you?" Now he sounded concerned, and she saw him inch towards her in his seat out of the corner of her eye.

Still she stared at the road as she drove. She had never been mad before. Distressed. Frustrated. Tired. Sad. Hopeful. Happy. Desperate. But not mad. Not like this. And she wasn't completely sure how to stop it.

"I don't think it's 'funny' that I 'have to be the healer'.'' Georgiana said. "It's because of that instinct that I saved your life. Twice! Once when I healed whatever it was that was in your brain – which hurt more than getting shot, by the way – and again when I kill – when I got us out of our cages. I did that. Not some fragile china doll."

Bucky leaned back into his seat, and she continued to grip the steering wheel. It was a very long and quiet drive back to the cabin. And when the cabin finally came back in sight it seemed like a blessing and a curse. She wanted out of this truck, she wanted space. But if she left the truck everyone would be able to tell that she was angry, and she didn't want that kind of attention. There was a new car parked outside. Steve's friend must have arrived. She parked the truck in the garage and turned off the engine. She expected Bucky to jump out as soon as possible, but he stayed completely still in his seat. She opened her door and started to step out.

Bucky caught her arm and pulled her back a little too fast, and she slipped as she landed back in her seat. Bucky had leaned forward to grab her, and now there was less distance between their faces then she could remember there ever being before. She felt her face turn red for a completely different reason than anger.

"I know what it's like to be a puppet, and that was not what I was implying. At all," he said. He was speaking quietly, and she wasn't sure if that was because of how close they were or if it was because of the subject. He looked almost nervous. "I grew up in the 1940s in Brooklyn, we used 'Doll' as a term of endearment. And I was laughing because I thought your reaction was cute."

Georgiana blinked. "What do you mean you grew up in the 1940s?"

"Both Steve and I are in our 90s," he said.

She studied his face. His long hair, sharp jaw, blue eyes.

"90s?" Georgiana said. "But you're, you know, cute."

A lazy smile grew onto Bucky's face, making him look even younger than he already usually did.

"Steve and I were frozen in ice," he said. "It's a long story, can I explain later? We should really get the groceries inside."

She nodded, but neither moved for another long moment. She found she enjoyed being this close to Bucky Barnes. She tucked her hair behind her ears nervously. With that lazy smile still on his face, Bucky got out of the truck. Georgiana closed her eyes and shook her head before she went to help him. Bucky handed her a couple of the grocery bags and the ones that had her new clothes and computer. Wordlessly, she followed him towards the front of the cabin.

Steve was waiting with a very cute blond woman on the front porch.

"Georgiana!" Steve said, "This is Sharon Carter."

"Hello," said Sharon.

Still holding multiple bags, Georgiana awkwardly waved once. She ducked inside the cabin right as Steve started saying something, placed the grocery bags on the kitchen counter, and disappeared into her room. She placed her new clothes in the hutch, put away her computer, and then collapsed on her bed to look at the ceiling. She had overreacted, but the idea of being seen as a china doll had struck a nerve she hadn't realized was there. Yes, she had been the one to get them out of the cages, but she wouldn't have been able to make it very far after that by herself. And if she was going to continue being around these superheroes, she was going to continue feeling less than them unless something changed. She waited until she was sure her face was no longer red, then went to go find Steve and Sharon.

Everyone was on the front porch, and Sam was showing Sharon a feature on his wings. Bucky was leaning on the railing at the end of the porch. Georgiana sat down beside Steve just as Sam started telling a story, eager to have Sharon as an audience.

"You alright?" Steve asked her quietly.

"Always," Georgiana said.

Sharon started laughing as Sam finished his story. She turned to look back at Steve, still laughing, and came to sit in front of Georgiana. Suddenly serious again, Sharon leaned forward in her chair as if to pat Georgiana's knee, and out of habit Georgiana flinched away.

"Sorry," Sharon said. "I understand why you must be contact shy."

Georgiana tucked her legs up underneath herself. "It's fine."

Sharon gave her a small smile. "Steve told me you don't remember your past?"

Georgiana nodded, and glanced between Sharon and Steve, wondering how much he had told her. There was something between the two of them. Something happy. They kept glancing at each other and smiling.

"If you would like, I want to help dig up as much information about you as possible," Sharon said. "Find out who you were, and how the weapons branch got a hold of you in the first place."

Georgiana agreed, her thoughts wandering to the idea of her family. Sharon pulled her purse onto her lap and dug though it until she brought out a small compact kit.

"I'm going to take your fingerprints," Sharon said, and this time Georgiana let her reach forward and take her hand. Sharon used a makeup brush to place a black powered onto Georgiana's fingers, and then used a special tap to wrap around each finger before piling it back off. She then took the prints and carefully placed them in back in the kit.

"Is there anything you might be able to tell me that I could use as a starting point?" Sharon asked. "Any random images you remember? Names? Your birthday? Or even any gut feelings about your past?"

"I can play the piano. And I was able to sing along with a song on the radio today," said Georgiana, trying to remember something that happened before the small square room she had woken up in. "Oh! Bruce told he met me in Africa five years ago."

"Did he now?" asked Sam, then shot a pointed look at Steve. Georgiana frowned at the pair of them.

"Bruce told us he had never seen you," Steve explained.

"He also took off when the rest of us weren't looking," said Bucky, from the back of the porch where he was leaning on the railing with his arms crossed. "The Departed never did a thing with the Hulk except drug him, he might be more involved in this then he let on."

"We can trust Banner," Steve said, in a tone had suggested that the conversation was over.

"Africa is a starting point, at least," said Sharon. "I don't want to leave for a couple of days. Someone might notice that this road has become unusually busy, but I can start researching while I stay here. Hopefully any past information I find will help."

"Thank you," said Steve to Sharon, and turned towards Georgiana. "Sharon used to be an agent of S.H.E.I.L.D., you're in good hands with her.

Sharon, in other words, was not a china doll. Georgiana waited until the three guys started talking before she pulled Sharon's attention away.

"Do you think you could train me, while you're here?" Georgiana asked.

Sharon frowned. "Train you in what?"

"To fight. Well, mostly just how to handle myself," said Georgiana. "Just in case, you know. Since I am in this mess and surrounded by these guys."

Sharon said nothing.

"I just want to be useful," said Georgiana. "And I don't want to be captured so easily again."

This time when Sharon reached forward to put a hand on her shoulder, Georgiana didn't flinch away. "We'll start in the morning."

Smiling, Georgiana looked back towards the others, who were now laughing at something Steve had said. Bucky caught her looking, and that lazy, knowing smile grew on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

_Thanks for everyone reading/reviewing this. You guys are great!_

 **Chapter Nine**

"Now rotate your arm so my arm is forced to turn with yours," said Sharon.

It was still rather early in the morning. Georgiana had dreamed she was Wade Wilson. Frist there had been multiple flashes of Wade screaming at a man named Francis, and then she had woken up soundlessly clutching her throat and feeling like she was suffocating. That had been at three in the morning. She had gone for a run, and when she had returned Sharon was up looking for her, ready to start training.

Sharon had said they were going to start with simple defense maneuvers, beginning with the same arm grab Weasel Man had done in the grocery store the day before. Georgiana rotated her arm the way Sharon showed her. They ran the drill over and over again, until it became smooth and fast, and then they switched arms and practice the drill again.

They spent the rest of the morning going over different defense maneuvers. At some point Steve, Bucky, and Sam took both the truck and Sharon's car and left to go into town, waving at them as they passed the front yard. They returned later, carrying in a piano into the cabin and some workout equipment into the back of the garage. Sharon and Georgiana continued practicing until Steve called out, saying dinner would soon be ready. Sweating and dirty and tired, Sharon grinned at her.

"You're a quick learner," Sharon said. "Whatever you did before you lost your memory, I think it might have had some physical element. Ballet, maybe?"

Georgiana took a quick shower. As Sam finished cooking, Steve set the table, and Sharon took a shower, Georgiana went over to the piano. They had picked it up at a yard sale, and the keys needed tuning, but as her fingers ran over the instrument she couldn't have been more excited. Dinner, for the first time, seemed relaxed and happy. Steve sat down besides Sharon and kissed her cheek, confirming Georgiana's suspicions that there was something between the two go them. Bucky asked Sam to pass the bowl of green beans, and Sam loaded up the entire bowl into his plate before handing the empty bowl to Bucky and stated "we're out."

After dinner, Sharon brought out a pile of documents and a couple of laptops and spread out on the dining table. Steve grabbed a football and ordered everyone outside so she could concentrate. In the front yard, Steve, Bucky, Sam, and Georgiana played catch. The first time Georgiana throw it Sam caught it with a little "hump," and gave her an impressed look. Sharon might have been right, Georgiana realized, she really might have been in a physically demanding job before she lost her memories.

As the sun began to set, Georgiana sat on the swing and watched the stars slowly appear. She really, really did not want to dream about Wade Wilson ever again.

"Have to sleep sometime," Bucky said, coming to sit the way he had on the first night at the cabin, with his back leaning into the truck of the tree.

Without thinking Georgiana touched her throat, recalling the feeling of suffocating. She grimaced. "The numbered people The Departed were making fight each other is next on the dream list. That should last a couple of nights."

"And then it's me," said Bucky, sounding hollow.

"And then it's you."

He shook his head and looked away, leaving her to study his profile. He seemed to be dreading her reliving his brain injury more than she was, and that made her nervous. What exactly had she healed in him? She hadn't really thought about her "ready to comply" reaction since it happened, focusing more on the fact that she had been shot afterwards.

"Thanks for the piano," she said, trying to loosen Bucky's tense jaw.

"Do you think there is anything we could do to keep the memory nightmares away?" He asked, ignoring the change of subject. Georgiana's throat felt dry. How bad would reliving Bucky's memories surrounding his brain injury be?

"So far, it seems like I only dream when I am not healing from something," She said. "I'm pretty sore from training today, maybe tonight I won't dream a thing."

Bucky shook his head again, still staring out into the distance. "Sleeping sucks."

"Yeah," Georgiana said. Bucky, she realized, had bad dreams too. "So you might as well warn me how you got that head injury."

He ran both hands through his hair and then gave her a hard look.

"Also, you told me you would explain how it is you and Steve are in your 90s," she said. "Might as well get that over with too."

That made him grin slightly. Then he sighed, ran his hands through his hair again, and turned to face her. He talked longer than Georgiana had ever heard him speak before. He didn't give any details, and kept his sentences short, but he explained how he and Steve were so old. Without giving her any descriptive words, he also told her about the code Hydra had placed into his head to control him. Things started to click into place as he spoke, and suddenly she understood why Clint had told her why some people thought of Bucky as a villain.

"You know that wasn't you, right?" Georgiana asked, after he had stopped speaking and there had been a long silence. "When I healed you, I was ready to comply and do whatever they told me to do. You didn't have a choice when you did those things."

"I know," he said. "But I still did them."

From the window Sharon could be seen still hunched over the dining table, scanning a sheet of paper in her hand and then one of the computers. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, and a pen was tucked behind an ear. Georgiana's stomached clenched, both nervous and excited at the idea of learning who she had been before the square room.

"So tell me," Georgiana said, looking back at Bucky. He raised an eyebrow, and she grinned at him as she spun in the swing, twisting the ropes together so that she would quickly untwist. "Was life in the 1900s better?"

"Well, internet is really helpful," he said. "Movies have better effects now, but the characters aren't as good. Food tastes better."

Laughing, she let the ropes loose and spun fast in the swing. The cabin and the woods where a blur as she whipped around. The force of the spin flung her hair into her face. She came to a very sudden stop. Head still spinning, she looked up to focus on Bucky's face. He had moved so that he stood in front of her swing, and his hands were holding the ropes above hers. He leaned down so that his face was once again very close to her own, and he had a half smile that looked both confident and nervous.

"The girls are cuter," he added. Heat rushed to Georgiana's face. His real hand let go of the swing and brushed some of her hair back. His hand trailed behind her ear, to her jaw, and down to the back of her neck. Warmth lingered on her skin where his path had gone.

Distracted by the tingling sensation of his hand, she almost didn't notice him pull away and head for the cabin, stuffing both of his hands into his pockets.

"Night, Doll," he called out to her as he opened the front door and slipped inside.

Georgiana concentrated on the cold wind and hoped it would cool her face.

 **X-X-X**

The days began to blur together. Georgiana would wake up from memory nightmares of the five numbered prisoners fighting each other. Then she would go on her runs. Sharon had tried joining on her for these, but soon discovered she could out she couldn't keep up or go for as long. After the runs Sharon would teach Georgiana self-defense, and they would practice until the movements where smooth, fast, and clean. Sore and sweaty, they would return to the cabin for dinner. Sharon would then disappear behind computers and papers, and Georgiana would try not to hover over Sharon by distracting herself. Usually this ended with her on the piano, playing catch with the boys, or swinging and hoping that she wouldn't dream.

Georgiana liked Sharon fair enough, but there was something very distance about her. While Sam would nudge Georgiana's side while they cleaned dishes, or while Steve would use her shoulder as an armrest when she stood by him, Sharon's contact seemed very thought out and planned. It made Georgiana anxious.

"Alright," said Sharon, one early morning as she stood between Sam and Georgiana in the front yard. "Georgiana has gotten to use to my patterns, so all you are going to do Sam is come up and grab her."

Sam shook his head. "I don't know."

"Come on, Sam," Georgiana said. "I need to get better at self-defense."

Sam was still shaking his head, but just as she was able to encourage him again Sam charged forward and grabbed her arm. To her embarrassment, Georgiana's first reaction was the flinch away.

"What's going on here?" Bucky had appeared on the front porch, looking angry.

"I'm helping Georgy train," Sam said, gesturing at her wildly.

"That's okay, it was your first time," Sharon said, ignoring the boys. "We'll try again, just remember your training. You've got this."

"She filched away, that's not training," Bucky said.

"Next time he comes at you, just concentrate," said Sharon.

"Why don't you mind your own business, man," Sam said.

"You've done this a million times," said Sharon. "Don't get nervous."

"I think you should back off," said Bucky.

Sam, his focus still on Bucky, reached out and grabbed Georgiana's arm again. In a smooth, fast motion she rotated her arm, causing Sam's own arm to turn. His hold on her broke as she used her free hand to shove the heel of her palm up into Sam's chin. His head snapped back and he stumbled, his hands going to his face.

"Oh my gosh!" said Georgiana, reaching forward towards Sam. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were paying attention."

Sam burst out laughing. Georgiana blinked.

"You're okay?" asked Georgiana. She reached out to touch him, to heal him, but Sam pulled back.

"I'm fine," he said, still kind of laughing. "Let's go again."

Sharon nodded, grinning, and a smile was slowing growing on Bucky's face.

"Okay, let's go," said Georgiana.

Sam came at her again, reaching for the other arm. She rotated her arm again, but expecting it Sam changed his grip. Georgiana leaned forward and turned into Sam so that the arm he had a hold of was facing away from him, and with her free arm shoved her elbow into his stomach. Again, Sam let go and stepped back. From behind Sharon wrapped both arms around Georgiana's neck. Georgiana turned around so that she was facing Sharon and went for Sharon's face, pressing her eyebrows instead of her eyes. Sharon let go and backed off.

"Good," said Sharon. "Again."

 **X-X-X**

There was a quiet knock on Georgiana's bedroom door. Glancing at her phone, Georgiana frowned. It was one in the morning. She had been trying to sleep for hours, but it was harder to get to sleep when nightmares seemed scheduled. Groaning, she slipped out of bed.

"I found you," said Sharon, rubbing some sand out of her eyes while she stood on the other side of the door. Her hair was in a messy bun again.

"Yeah?" Georgiana said, looking down at herself.

"No," said Sharon. "I found some information about you before you lost your memories."

Butterflies erupted in Georgiana's stomach. Quietly, she followed Sharon to the dining table. The three guys were in sleeping in the living room, as Sharon usually slept in the green bedroom, so Sharon picked up a laptop and led Georgiana outside. Sitting on the front porch steps, Sharon opened the laptop, and there she was. There was a picture of Georgiana as a child, small and chubby cheeks and her white hair in pigtails. It was in a newspaper article, and the headline read "Twelve Year Old Goes Missing After School".

"Do you want me to read it, or would you like me to give you highlights?" Sharon asked.

Georgiana said nothing, and carefully took the laptop. Her name had been Sue Kelly. Her mother had been Jessica; her father had been Ryan. She had been kidnapped walking home from school, where she lived in North Dakota.

Finished with the article, Georgiana handed the laptop back to Sharon. Who then pulled up a new page on the computer.

"Your parents split up after you disappeared. Your father died in a car crash, and mother died of skin cancer only a year ago. You have no known living family. You are 22 years old," said Sharon, listing off information as she pulled up different pages as proof.

Georgiana stared blankly at Sharon's profile as she continued stating facts as if they held no weight or importance.

"Your birthday is December 2nd. You escaped from the man who kidnapped you when you were eighteen. He died two years later in a jail. You never tried to find your mother. Despite never going to a public school after you were kidnapped you went to college and got a Bachelors of Fine Arts. You worked as a piano teacher and a pilot," Sharon continued, her voice still monotone. "You were one of five pilots who toured the world, called the Red Jumpers, and the group performed flight tricks and patterns. Which is why you were in Africa five years ago. You have always been a long distance runner. Your closest friend was a fellow pilot named George Wells. He was a boxer, and taught you how to punch, which explains why I thought you might have had a physical career. George was killed trying to fend off a group of masked people who came at you in Ireland, and then you disappeared. Suggesting that it was the weapons branch that took you in Ireland."

The butterflies in Georgiana's stomached had died. Replaced by a rotting feeling towards Sharon. She knew the feeling was likely misplaced. That she was trying to blame Sharon somehow for all the awful things about her past just because Sharon was the one giving the news. At the same time, Georgiana still found it appalling at how Sharon stated the facts.

"This is just my speculation," Sharon resumed. "But I think your powers started developing when you were fourteen. During that time, you were being held captive by your kidnapper, so this is only guess work. But during the year you would have been fourteen is when there starts to become stories about a white-haired witch."

A white haired-witch. That was what Bruce had called her too.

Sharon drummed her fingers. "That just about everything I found. I will send you all the articles and everything to your computer so you can look at it in your own time." Sharon closed the laptop and yawned. Clint, Georgiana decided, would never have yawned right now. Natasha wouldn't have either.

Sharon hummed. "I wonder how The Departed knew the weapons branch had you in the first place."

That was the last straw. Sharon had obviously already moved past the actual information about Georgiana's past and all the weight it held. Taking the laptop away from Sharon, Georgiana gave a short "Good night," and Sharon got the hint to give her some space. Before she slipped inside, Sharon finally seemed to notice Georgiana was upset, and squeezed her shoulder.

"Sorry if that was rough," said Sharon. "I thought if I said it without any meaning it wouldn't be as hard."

It was becoming hard to understand why Steve liked Sharon. Steve felt passionate about everything and everyone. Georgiana had only ever caught him a few times, but she knew Steve often checked in on her at night, worried that she would wake up screaming again. Sharon didn't seem to be passionate about anything.

Georgiana said nothing, and waited until she heard Sharon disappear inside before opening the laptop and looking over everything Sharon had pulled up.

When she had been locked up, both in the square blank room and in the cage, Georgiana had always thought that someone, somewhere, was looking for her. At the very least there was someone missing her or wondering where she was. But there was no one. The other Red Jumpers pilots who were still alive had split up after her disappearance and George's death. Which, Georgiana read, had been half a year ago. Those pilots would be better off without Georgiana stepping back into their lives. From the information Sharon had found everyone close to her seemed to turn up dead. It would be better if the other pilots never saw her again.

The weapons branch had kept her underground for half of a year before Tony's friend, Peter, had overheard someone talking about her and told Wade. Half of a year where she must have been hurting from George's death and scared about being used to heal people.

Sue Kelly was the name given to her by parents who she had never seen except for the picture Sharon had brought up on the computer. Both of them had dark black hair. She had a feeling she hadn't been a Kelly for a very long time. No, she would keep the name Georgiana. It reminded her of George. And George had died for her.

"Hey."

The front door opened and Bucky quietly came to sit beside her on the steps of the porch. Georgiana knew there were tears in her eyes, so she kept her focus on the moon and passed the laptop over to him. He was quiet for a very long time, reading everything Sharon had found. She was glad he didn't talk, and with his attention pulled she was able to brush away the few tears that had fallen onto her face.

When he had finished, Bucky turned the laptop off and placed it to the side. Then, to Georgiana's surprise, he took her hand in his real one and interlaced their fingers. The simplicity of the act made another tear fall, and she tried to casually sweep it away. He shifted so that they were closer together. Not moving, Georgiana watched numbly as he very awkwardly pulled her into a hug. It was very odd, how Bucky could transform from smooth to awkward so quickly. She didn't return the hug, but he held on, and for that, she was grateful.

When Bucky did finally pull away, Georgiana felt compelled to say something.

"I always thought I would want to be who I was," Georgiana said quietly. "Like, I imagined the best version of myself was in the past."

Bucky's hold on her hand tightened, and she felt it ground her. She wasn't in the past, and there was nothing she could do to change it. Instead, she was here at a cabin, surrounded by heroes, and trying to piece a life together. And Bucky, tightly holding her hand, was acting like a root. Digging deep underground for her so that she could grow. Grow here. Up in this cabin, surrounded by these people.

She had always had the feeling that who she was, and who she is, were very different people.

"But maybe the best version of myself can be right now," Georgiana said, and placed her head onto Bucky's shoulder.

And maybe, just maybe, she was his root too. Maybe, if she believed the best version of herself could be her current one, then he could believe that too. It was like the word _almost_. They almost had similar stories. They almost understood each other. Maybe _almost_ was as close as anyone would ever get to understanding her, or him.

Almost was good. Almost was perfect.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Two hands, one cold and the other warm, shook her awake. For the first time in days, Georgiana had been deeply asleep and not dreaming. She had known she wouldn't this time. She had spent the entire day training with Sharon and Sam, and had healed them both when they weren't paying attention before heading to bed, bruised and sore for three people. With a small humming sound, she woke up to find Bucky leaning over her.

"Come on," he said. "Clint and Nat are here."

The window was still dark, hinting at the late hour. Immediately, Georgiana could tell that no one had ever woken her up in the middle of one of her healing sleeps. She felt nauseous and dizzy. She groaned, and her eyes fluttered close.

"Georgy," Bucky said, and she felt one of his hands touch her face. "Wake up."

She tried to focus on Bucky's face. His eyebrows were pulled close together, and the ends of his mouth were turned down.

"What's wrong?"

"Come on," he repeated.

Still dizzy, Georgiana stood up on shaky legs and swayed on the spot. Bucky stood by her, looking nervous until she steadied herself.

The living room was colored in the yellow glow of the lamp in the corner. Natasha and Clint were sitting on two of the kitchen chairs that had been pulled into the living room. Both were leaning in their chairs so that their elbows rested on their knees. Clint's hands were clasped together, and he had a slight frown on his face. Natasha looked slightly more comfortable, and Georgiana wondered if she was more used to being the bearer of bad news.

Georgiana sat down on the couch between Bucky and Sam. Steve sat in the leather chair in the corner, with Sharon perched on the arm of the chair, looking disheveled. Natasha glancing over at the pair of them and bit the inside of her cheek when she looked away. Georgiana frowned, maybe she wasn't the only one who couldn't warm up to Sharon.

"The Departed have retaken the five prisoners they were testing their drug on," Clint said, breaking the silence. He pulled out two large photographs and placed them on the coffee table in the middle of the living room. Georgiana stared at the pictures of 003 and 002. Both looked taller and broader than ever, and their veins were large and colored purple. "These are the only pictures of them, but we know the other three were also recaptured."

"We were able to hack into one of their computers and discover the coding they use on their messages," Natasha added. "All five of the numbered prisoners are still being tested on their new super drug. The Departed referred to them as the Spring Children."

Georgiana tucked her legs up underneath herself, suddenly feeling small. All five prisoners had been recaptured. All five were somewhere locked in cages, being drugged, and being forced to fight each other and follow orders. These were good fighters, too. If The Departed could recapture them, then it seemed very unlikely that no amount of training from Sharon or Sam would be enough for Georgiana to keep herself from being captured again, too.

Natasha pointed to 003 and 002 in the photo. "These two are the only ones who The Departed have sent on field tests. They entered a small village in Scotland yesterday, and burnt the place to the ground. No one died because we think it was only a demonstration of their strength. They took down a couple of buildings with their bare hands."

"Why would The Departed suddenly be showcasing their strength?" said Sam. "They were so secretive we didn't even know about them until a little while ago."

Natasha and Clint glanced at each other, and then Clint placed a new photo on the coffee table. The majority of the picture showed what Georgiana assumed was the burning village in Scotland. In the very corner of the picture, half masked by smoke and flames from a building in the foreground, was the outline of a giant. A purple giant.

"The only person on record to be this size is the Hulk," said Clint.

"We think that they want us to know that they have the Hulk as power," said Natasha. "Because they know we can't stop him. We can't kill him, nothing Tony can make does anything more than stall the Hulk long enough of the cities to be evaluated, and I doubt my lullabies work on him anymore."

"The Hulk turned back into Bruce when he met Georgiana," Sam pointed out.

"Which is information that they don't know," said Natasha.

There was a small hint of guilt in Natasha's voice and body language, and once again Georgiana wondered what the relationship was between Natasha and Bruce.

Steve leaned forward and picked up the picture, frowning. "Are we sure this is Banner?"

"No," said Natasha. "It looks like him, but it doesn't behave like him. Besides the few buildings these Spring Children took down, the rest of the village was burnt. The Hulk would have caused more damage. Unless, of course, they have him so heavily drugged that they have more control over him. Which, as this photo shows him as purple, instead of green, they very well might have."

Steve placed the photo back onto the coffee table. "So it could be someone else?"

Clint pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's a possibility. But in all likelihood this is Bruce. He left us without telling anyone where he was going, so it isn't as if we can check up on him. And if The Departed can get their hands on all five of these Spring Children in just a few weeks, what would make Banner any harder to find?"

Sharon stood up from where she was sitting on the arm of Steve's chair to peer down at the photographs on the table. She ran a hand through her tousled hair, her eyebrows pulled together.

"Besides making an appearance of strength, why would they attack a village," Sharon asked. "Why this village? What was important about the location?"

"From what we were able to decode, the village was the closest populated area to another one of their bases," said Clint. "Which is five miles away from the location. They keep these two Spring Children, and this giant, there."

"Was relief sent to the village?" Steve asked.

"Pepper sent in the Stark Relief Squad," said Natasha. "The squad appeared moments after the giant and the two Spring Children disappeared. Houses are already being rebuilt, and food, water, blankets, doctors, were all sent over within minutes."

Sam crossed his arms over his chest. "And what does the board who run the Accords think about this?"

An extremely sly grin spread over Natasha's face. "Let's just say they are currently very angry about the fact all of their Avengers are unresponsive and in hiding until the Georgiana issue has been settled."

Georgiana squirmed where she sat on the couch. She hated this. Hated being "The Georgiana issue" and the reason for anything bad to happen. If The Departed really did have Bruce captive again, she would blame herself. She had been the one to let him go.

Bucky shot her a sideways glance. "If they have already recaptured everyone except for Georgiana, it's a safe bet that they are trying to find her, too."

Clint nodded. "Not just a bet, a fact. Tony had Peter check on Wade Wilson. Turns out Wade and his girlfriend have gone underground because The Departed sent over some men to forced information about Georgiana out of him. Luckily, even without being Deadpool, Wade took them out." Talking slightly softer, Clint added to Georgiana, "By the way, Wade was very relieved to hear you were okay. He apparently has been worried sick about you."

Natasha cleared her throat, as if to refocus the group. "We actually think that another reason they attacked the village was to try to bring Georgiana out of hiding. Or, bring us out of hiding since they know we have her."

"Didn't they have Bucky, too?" asked Sharon. "Wouldn't they also be looking for him?"

Natasha shrugged. "Without being able to control the Winter Soldier, they don't really have a reason to be looking for him."

Steve now stood too, but unlike Sharon he was tall enough that he blocked a lot of the yellow light coming from the lamp in the corner, making the room appear darker.

"If we go and check this base out, are people from the Accords going to get in our way?" asked Steve.

Natasha shot him a crooked smile. "Tony is in communication with the board right now. He was going to tell them that if they want to send any of us over to the base, then they were going to have to make some amendments to the Accords."

"Amendments that we write," added Clint.

"We are going no matter what, I'm assuming?" said Sam.

"Yes," said Steve. "If they do have Banner, we need to get him out of there as soon as possible. Along with these two Spring Children. And I want to learn more about this purple drug."

"We shouldn't leave without first getting in contact with Tony again," said Natasha. "Not because of what the board for the Accords says, but because of his teammates. He has both Wanda and Vision with him currently, and we are going to need their help if this really is the Hulk."

Steve nodded. "Alright. Natasha, get Tony on the phone now and let him know we are going to this base immediately, we want to get there before they decide to move camp. Also, tell him not to bring the kid. I don't want Peter to get involved."

Natasha was already pulling out her phone and bringing it to her ear, walking into the kitchen as if to get more privacy.

"The rest of you, get ready to leave." Steve continued. "We will take Clint's plane the moment we are ready. Bucky, I want you to stay here with Georgiana."

Bucky froze beside her. "What?"

Steve placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "There is a chance they want us to go looking at this base so that we leave Georgiana unattended, she can't stay here alone. If they have Bruce, he might have told them where we are. There is also a chance that they still want to recapture you, too."

"Wait," said Georgiana, standing onto her feet. "If the Hulk is going to be there shouldn't I come with you? As of right now, I'm the only one we know who can calm him down. He trusts me."

There was a sudden burst of noise as everyone spoke at the same time.

"We can't bring you to the people who want capture you."

"You still don't have enough training to go on missions."

"We have only been teaching you self-defense."

"Absolutely not."

Slightly taken aback, Georgiana sat back down. They were right, of course. She wasn't really trained, and would likely be more of a liability. But she wanted to help. She wanted to be useful. And she felt slightly responsible for Bruce and the five Spring Children.

Natasha came back into the room. "Tony and his group are already heading over to the location of the base, if we want to meet up with him we should leave now."

Steve made eye contact with everyone in the room. "Suit up."

Bucky sprung off of the couch and followed Steve around the room as Steve pulled on his suit. Georgiana felt like the only still person in the room as everyone buzzed around. It reminded her that she was still dizzy from waking up during a healing sleep cycle.

"You know how likely that this is a trap," Bucky said quietly to Steve, where they stood across the room. "That the only reason they attacked the village was to get you to come to the base."

"It's very likely," said Steve. "But we have a pretty big team going, and together we've seen worse. We'll be fine."

A hand touched Georgiana's shoulder, and she looked up to see Clint standing behind the coach wearing his suit and a bow around his back.

"How have you been holding up?" he asked her, distracting her from Steve and Bucky's conversation. A warmth spread through her, she had always trusted Clint.

"Good," she said. "Thanks to you and your cabin."

"It hasn't gotten too crowded around here?"

She smiled and shrugged. "I'm usually outside, so I haven't noticed."

It was also nice, always having people around. Completely the opposite of how it was alone in a cage or an empty room.

"Well, let me know if you ever want to leave," Clint said. "My wife is already planning to set up a guest room for you, if you want to come stay with us."

Without really thinking, Georgiana jumped off of the couch and hugged Clint, her arms awkwardly trying to wrap around the bow he had on his back. She had spent more time looking at the files that Sharon had found about her past. Her own parents had stopped looking for her only a year after she had been kidnapped, which she was guessing was the reason she had never gone looking for her mom once she escaped her kidnapper. Yet, here was Clint, who hardly knew her, and already was offering her a room in his family.

"Let's go," said Steve.

Georgiana followed everyone outside, and stood on the porch with Bucky as everyone loaded onto the plane Clint and Natasha had arrived in. They watched it silently fly out of view into the night sky.

"Something will go wrong," said Georgiana, her gut twisting as she stared at the spot the plane had disappeared.

Bucky sighed. "I know."

 **X-X-X**

She had been worried when she woke up that Bucky would want to hover around her all day, simply because Steve had thought The Departed might be trying to get to her. Georgiana was less worried. After she had healed Bucky, they had shot her. She doubted they still found her useful. Bucky was missing when she woke up. She found him in the garage, using the punching bag, and waved at him before going on her morning run.

Without Sharon or Sam around to train her, and knowing the Bucky wouldn't, she decided to test herself on her running skills. She no longer felt dizzy, and knew she had healed while asleep. Today, she forced herself to keep at a sprint for as long as possible. When she finally did stop to catch her breath, she realized she had gone miles. Smiling, she jogged back up the trail.

As she passed the garage, Bucky caught her eye and waved her over. Fixing her sweaty ponytail, Georgiana jogged over to him.

"You want to practice?" He asked, gesturing to the punching bag and waited for her to nod in agreement. "Let's start at the top."

Georgiana ignored him, and let muscle memory kick in. She broadened her stance and punched the bag with a satisfying _bang!_ Bucky's eyebrows rose.

"Alright," he said. "Not at the top, then."

She shrugged, grinning. "Apparently my best friend was a boxer."

They trained for a while, stopping briefly every once in a while so that Bucky could demonstrate and describe a new way to hit or kick the punching bag. Training with Bucky was nothing like training with Sam or Sharon. Sharon liked to repeat the same thing over and over, while Sam preferred to improvise. Both, however, always worked with the sense that she had to get things perfectly right away. There was always a level of stress involved. Bucky had an ease about him while they trained. He wasn't in a hurry. It seemed less like training and more like a pastime activity. They were able to laugh and joke while taking turns with the punching bag.

Laughing, Bucky stopped punching so that he could turn around and finish his story. "And then, then Steve turns to this guy, and this guy must be seven feet tall and Steve is fourteen, and says–"

 _Ring!_ In the pocket of her running shorts Georgiana's cellphone starts ringing. Pulling it out, her smile drops. Bruce Banner was calling her.

"Bruce?" she asked, bringing the phone up to her ear.

"Georgiana! Good," said Bruce, his voice coming through the phone in glitches. "I just found out about the village in Scotland."

Bucky leaned forward, as if to listen to Bruce on her phone.

"Bruce are you okay? We thought The Departed had you." Georgiana said.

"What?" came Bruce's voice. "No, no I'm fine. I was just checking to make sure you weren't going to Scotland."

"Oh," said Georgiana, looking at Bucky to see if he had heard. "I'm not. Bruce, we saw a picture of a purple Hulk, we thought that was you."

"It's not," he said. "Listen, I have to go, I'll check in with you later."

The line went dead. Bucky's frowned, still leaning in close to her, and she brought the phone back up to the front of her face.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" she asked, and waited until the female voice replied. "Can you track that call and tell me where it came from?"

"An island off of South Africa, Miss," said F.R.I.D.A.Y. "Would you like me to send you the exact coordinates?"

"No-,"

"Yes," said Bucky, leaning towards the phone. "Thanks."

"But we don't need coordinates," said Georgiana, looking up at Bucky's sweaty face. "The Departed don't have Bruce."

"They don't have Bruce in Scotland," said Bucky. "They might still have him and be using him to contact you."

Georgiana shook her head. "Tony told me that F.R.I.D.A.Y. makes my phone untraceable."

Bucky shrugged a shoulder. "Doesn't mean they won't try."

The phone vibrated in Georgiana's hand, and coordinates appeared on the screen. Bucky took the phone and ran inside. Georgiana followed, finding him in the kitchen writing the coordinates down as he asked her to bring him her laptop.

Opening her laptop on the dining table, Bucky started researching the island.

"Do you really think the village was a distraction so that they could get me alone?" Georgiana asked, sitting down in a chair close to Bucky as he hunched over her laptop.

"No," he said. "Well, maybe."

 **X-X-X**

She wanted to yell, but there was a clamp over her face, pressing hard into her chin, cheekbone, and forehead. She was in a dark room, the walls made of concrete, and her vision was blurring in and out of focus as shadowy figures stood around her. Someone kept speaking.

"Zhelaniye. Rzhavyy. Semnadtsat'. Rassvet. Pech'. Devvat'. Dobroserdechnyy. Vozvrashcheniye na rodinu. Odin. Gruzovoy vagon."

White hot pain pooled into her head, and Georgiana woke up screaming.

Bucky came charging into her room, looking ready to attack. His face contorted when he saw Georgiana clutching her head, curled up in her bed, and he relaxed his stance.

"It was mine? Wasn't it?" he asked.

Her head hurt too much for her to move or speak. She could only concentrate on breathing and watched as Bucky left the room and returned with a glass of water, which he placed on her night stand. The bed dipped as he sat next to her. She didn't move, afraid that if she let go of her head even though she knew it was simply her mind reliving Bucky's injury.

Bucky shifted her so that her head was in his lap, and he placed his metal hand onto her forehead. It felt cool on her skin and seemed to release some of the pressure in her skull. His other hand absentmindedly stroked her hair. She knew he felt guilty, and she felt guilt too.

The pool of pain in her head slowly melted away, and she relaxed into Bucky.

"How long were you forced to go through that?" she asked quietly.

Bucky said nothing. Exhausted, she fell back asleep, and the almost exact same dream reappeared. Bucky was already stroking her hair when she woke up clutching her head.


	11. Chapter 11

_Thanks for everyone who is reading/reviewing. I hope you are enjoying this little story!_

 **Chapter Eleven**

Everything seemed fuzzy and warm. Georgiana snuggled closer to the heat source, keeping her eyes closed as she stretched her legs. Her head felt soft from the long night of repeating Bucky's memories. She faded in and out of consciousness until she was awake enough to notice the slight movement under her head. Her eyes fluttered open, and she shot upright. Bucky's arm, which had been wrapped around her shoulders and tangled in her hair, slipped off of her and hit the bed.

Heart still beating rapidly from the surprise of waking up with Bucky's stomach as a pillow, she felt herself blush. He stirred slightly, grumbling as he shifted from sleeping on his back to his side. She stilled, and waited until she was sure he was deeply asleep again before she brushed some of his hair out of his face and carefully climbed out of the bed.

Tip toeing into the bathroom she washed her face with hot water. She looked exhausted, and she felt it too, but the last thing she wanted to do was go back to sleep. She had a feeling that these Bucky memories were going to last for a while. Just as she decided to sneak back into her bedroom and grab her running gear there was a quiet _snap!_

Georgiana froze, her heart picking up speed once again. Bare feet soundless on the floor, she carefully made her way to the front door and peered out the window.

 _Snap!_

She flinched from the sound, jumping away from the window. Maybe Steve had been right, and The Departed were looking for her. Maybe she should go wake up Bucky. Peering out the window once more, she waited for movement.

It was a bear. The bear, broad and walking around with his nose in the air, moseyed out of the woods and into the open, stepping on fallen branches as he went, which would crack under his weight.

"What is it?"

Bucky leaned on the door frame of her bedroom. He was yawning and rubbing his eyes, looking disheveled and tired. She felt herself blush again. He was wearing loose sweatpants and a black tan-top, which clearly slowed his muscular arms and lean torso. She had never before seen where his metal arm ended and returned to skin, and was surprised to see that the metal came all the way up his shoulder.

"Grizzly," said Georgiana.

Bucky came to stand on the other side of the window. The bear was still strolling across the front yard, sniffing the air and the ground. They watched as he took his time wandering back into the woods and out of view.

"I'm not sure I've seen an animal yet," said Georgiana, more to herself than to Bucky. "No counting birds and squirrels, of course." She realized Bucky was staring at her. "What?"

He shook his head and looked back out the window.

Georgiana waited for the bear to reappear, but it did not. There had been a very calming presence about the animal. As if, knowing that a bear felt comfortable enough to mosey around the lawn, demonstrated how far away from people the cabin really was. The cabin was small and on a large piece of private property. It was secluded, and felt safe.

"We need groceries again, want to come?" Bucky asked, still not looking at her.

She was slightly surprised by the question. Had it been anyone else, they would have told her to stick by their side until everyone returned, but not Bucky. Bucky wasn't going to hover or make her feel caged in any way.

"Sure," she said. "Let me go get changed."

This time Bucky drove the truck down the mountain towards the small town that rested more than an hour away. The radio was turned on and quietly playing in the background, but Georgiana wasn't paying attention to it. She rested her head on her window and watched the trees fly past.

"Listen," said Bucky, staring down the road as he drove. "About last night–"

"Don't," Georgiana said. "It's not anyone's fault, okay? It is just something that happens. So don't think about it."

He shook his head, which was hidden more than usual because of a baseball cap he was wearing. "You wouldn't have to go through that if you hadn't healed me."

Georgiana sat up straight and started to braid her hair, planning to tuck the braid under her jacket when they were in town so that no one noticed her white hair under her own baseball cap. "You feeling bad isn't going to make me feel better, so don't. Like I said, those dreams, they are just something that happens. Things happen."

Bucky didn't speak to her again until they parked outside the grocery store. Briefly, she wondered if she would see Weasel Man again, or some other creep. But the store was calm and friendly. This time she was more active in what Bucky put in the cart, walking beside him and teasing him when he spent too long reading the ingredients labels. He frowned when she reached for tomatoes, and she made a mental note that he disliked them. Like the last time, he seemed more relaxed out of the cabin. Despite the fact that he was usually so quiet, he was very friendly to anyone they passed. Giving strangers smiles or wishing them good evenings. He was once again more affectionate. If she started to wander away he would reach out with his gloved hands and pull her back towards the chart.

"Are you trying to make sure another creep doesn't ask me out," she asked suspiciously, when he once again took her hand and gently guided her nearer to him. She tried to keep her voice light even though she knew that if the answer was yes she would be upset. She had been training so hard with Sam and Sharon, she wanted to think that her friends were starting to believe in her ability to somewhat take care of herself.

"What do you mean?" asked Bucky.

She tugged on her hand, still trying to tease instead of accuse. "You won't let me out of your sight."

Bucky let go of her hand to reach for a paper bag. He looked as if he had gone slightly red. "It's just that, I don't really trust myself in public places."

He started picking through the red apples, holding them carefully in his left gloved hand before placing them in the paper bag. Georgiana glanced over her shoulder, no one was paying them any extra attention.

She placed some bananas into their cart. "What do you mean? You act happier in town than anywhere else."

He smiled to himself, but it faded quickly. "Being around people means it is more likely to come across someone who might be looking for me. Nothing usually happens, but when things do happen, people get hurt. Even if I don't mean for them too."

"I won't let you hurt anyone," she continued to tease, not wanting his happy mood to disappear because of her personal question. He rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"I know."

They continued to walk around the store, which took longer than Georgiana thought it would have because of how Bucky had to examine everything so carefully before putting it in the cart. She had a feeling he was more used to open markets than grocery stores.

"What are you doing?" he asked, when she led him into the aisle that had boxes of hair dye. She studied the labels and picked up a box of brown hair dye to show him.

"My white hair kind of gives me away," she said. "Don't you think?"

She looked back down at the box in her hand, reading the instructions on how to turn her hair brown. Bucky's hand tugged her hair, and he looked sheepish.

"It's pretty," he mumbled, looking away from her. He had spoken so quietly she wondered if she was supposed to have heard him.

"It's also very noticeable if people really are trying to find me," she said, and elbowed his side as she stuck the hair dye in their cart. She then pulled her braid back under her jacket and glanced over her shoulder, no one was paying attention to them.

Sharon had started to teach her how to be invisible in crowds. She hadn't spent a lot of time of the subject, saying she only needed to know the basics, but Georgiana had enjoyed learning. It seemed like a very usefully thing to know, considering she had been captured twice, and those were just the times she could remember.

On the way to the checkout line, they pasted an older man who smelled awful. He grinned at them, his teeth rotting away, and leaned into them as they walked past. He asked if they wanted to buy some drug Georgiana didn't recognize the name of. Bucky decline, but later she noticed him buy a sandwich from the deli section of the store and hand it to the old man.

In the truck, Georgiana checked her phone as Bucky drove. No messages. No missed calls.

"Do you think the others are alright?" she asked, taking off her cap and re-braiding her hair.

"Yeah," he said. "Scotland is some ways away, and they need to meet up with the others and make a plan. They might not have even entered the base yet."

"I tried calling them yesterday," she said. "To tell them that Bruce called me, but no one would answer. I tried Steve, Tony, Clint, and Natasha."

Bucky looked unfazed. "They are flying in an untraceable aircraft; I doubt they are getting any calls at the moment."

At the cabin Georgiana disappeared into the bathroom with the box of brown hair dye. As she sat on the edge of the bathtub, her hair on the top of her head with the dye soaking, she couldn't help remembering what she had overheard Clint say to Bucky on the porch. She remembered Clint's voice, "I spent some time as a zombie. I didn't get to choose what I did." Maybe that was why Bucky was so relaxed about the possibility of The Departed coming after her. No matter what, he wanted to still give her choices because he knew what it was like not to have any. Maybe that was why she had liked Clint from the start, too.

She rinsed her hair and looked into the mirror.

"What the heck! Did I do it wrong?"

Bucky was suddenly at the door frame to the bathroom, eyebrows raised. "I thought you were dying it brown."

"I did!" she said, looking at the still very white hair in the mirror. "It didn't work!"

Bucky had a half smile, half grimace on his face. "Maybe your hair is white because of your powers? It can't be dyed."

Georgiana thought back to the pictures of her parents Sharon had found. Of their dark hair and eyes. She had the dark eyes and the freckles, but her hair was awfully white. She sighed. "So much for going undercover."

Bucky chuckled. "I really doubt chancing hair color would have done much. Look at Nat, she has always been a redhead, and she has never had a stranger on the street recognize her."

Georgiana bit back the urge to remind him that she was not trained as a super spy and assassin with magic skills to walk anywhere without being noticed.

Bucky disappeared to work out in the garage with the equipment, and Georgiana went for her daily run. Still disappointed that they hair dye had not worked, she took a shower before cutting up a watermelon they had picked up at the store. She found Bucky in the green bedroom, looking through the bookshelf.

"Want to go for a walk?" she asked.

They followed the running path down to an open field across the creek. Three sides of the field were covered by the woods, but the last side faced an open cliff, which gave a great view of the surrounding snow peaked mountains. They ate the watermelon as Bucky told her stories about him and Steve when they were young, and she told him about her first crazy impressions about everyone.

"You weren't any better," she said, as Bucky laughed at her impression of the Hulk sitting in his cage and always breathing hot puffs of air on her to communicate. "You just sat with your back towards me, even though you were supposed to be there on a mission to find me in the first place!"

He laughed again. He had a good laugh. A rich one.

They were lying on their backs in the field, looking up at the blue sky as the clouds drifted. He reached out and patted her arm with his metal one without looking away from the sky.

"Sorry," he said, in a tone that didn't sound very sorry at all.

"Whatever," she said, grinning. She followed the impulse to take his metal hand in hers, then looked away, feeling herself blush again. He let her interlace their hands. The metal was slightly cold to touch compared to the heat of the sun that had settled into the field. Bucky seemed to understand that holding hands was a safety net for her. Wade had been the first person to take her hand, and it had been the first touch she could remember that hadn't caused her to heal someone and hurt. Bucky had let her hold his hand back in the dark tunnels when she didn't really know him, and he let her do it now.

"You're different when you aren't around the others," said Georgiana.

Bucky frowned, and his hand tightened in hers. "What do you mean?"

Georgiana squeezed his fingers in return. "You seemed more relaxed, at ease, when it's just us. Almost, happier. And I guess I just don't understand why? You and Steve have been close for ages."

Bucky sighed, and was quiet for a long time. Georgiana stared at his profile, as his jaw tensed and then relaxed and then tensed again. Finally, he turned his head so that his blue eyes studied her face.

"It's just that . . ." he trailed off. Their fingers still interlaced, she kissed the back of his metal hand, hoping that he took it as a sign of trust and acceptance. It seemed to work. His eyes, which had been studying her so carefully, seemed to look less critical. As if he had stopped trying to figure out how she would react to what he was going to say.

"It's just that I'm not who I was. Before. No matter how hard I try to be," he said. "And I'm not the Winter Soldier, either. Thank God. I'm just, stuck somewhere between, and I can keep trying to be who I was, but I never will. And I can try to be someone else, someone new, but that never works out, either."

She understood. It reminded her of her own past, the one she couldn't remember. When she had woken up in the square empty room, she had kept thinking she needed to be who she was before she lost her memory. Only later she had found out that she didn't want to be that person. The person who had been kidnapped and had stayed kidnapped for years. The new her fought people who tried to keep her in a cage, the old her hadn't. Now, it was like she had a second chance to be the best version of herself, to start over. No one had known her before, so it was a clean start. But Bucky's best friend in the world was with him. Steve and Bucky were always together when they were in the same place. It would be hard to feel as if there was a chance for a new start if his best friend kept waiting for the person he remembered to reappear.

"Can I tell you what I think?" asked Georgiana.

"Please."

Georgiana rolled onto her side to face him. "I think you are a very complex person. You try, every day, to do good things for everyone. For good people, for bad people. And that is not something a lot of people can do. Most people only help those they think deserve help. The fact that you help others, without judging them first or excepting them to change, is important. You never want anyone to feel the way that you have felt, or feel."

Bucky's eyes flickered across her face, and then he gave a smile that looked like a frown, and turned to look back up at the sky, his hand now loose in her own.

"Sounds as if you are describing yourself."

She shook her head, and scooted closer to him because it felt like he was about to pull away. "I'm not," she said. "I have to heal people. It makes me feel important and useful. That, and I also get this uncomfortable tightness on my skin when I am by someone who is injured, and I can't just ignore it. I let it bug me until I heal the person to make myself feel better."

The smile reappeared on his face, and he looked back over at her, his hold on her hand tightening again. "That's not completely true," he said. "You're a helper. It's in your nature."

"Maybe," she shrugged. "But it's in yours too. You helped me before you even really knew me."

He shook his head, about to protest, so she quickly moved on. "And people trust you. Steve trusts you. Sam does too, even though I think he would rather die than admit it. I trust you."

"What if you're putting your trust in the wrong person."

She once again brought his metal hand up and kissed the back of his hand. "I'm not."

He turned on to his side so that they were facing each other. Suddenly feeling silly, she let go of his hand and instead used it to prop her head up. He was staring at her again, searching her face.

"I'm not," she repeated with a small smile, amused. There was nothing she wanted more at that moment than for Bucky to believe her. To believe in himself.

Bucky's metal hand reached up and cupped her face, his thumb stroked her cheek. She blushed, but didn't dare pull away. If she pulled away now, he would never believe her.

That lazy, knowing smile grew onto his face. In a smooth motion that Georgiana wasn't expecting, Bucky pulled himself close to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, her nose, her cheek. She eyes fluttered close at the contact, and when there was a brief moment of nothingness, she forced them open and found Bucky still very close to her face. His gaze flickered to her lips, and back up to her eyes.

He pulled away from her and stood up. For a moment she didn't know if she should feel horrible that he had stopped or happy at what he had started. Something seemed to ache in her chest, but it was an ache she enjoyed. Bucky reached out a hand and pulled her onto her feet. She shot him a questioning smile, and nervously tucked her loose hair behind her ears, aware that she must still be blushing. His lazy smile turned into a grin, and he puffed out an amused breath and ran a hand through his hair, looking almost bashful.

They heard it as they were walking back up the path towards the cabin.

It was the small humming nose of an aircraft. They froze. Bucky whispered for her to stay behind him. Quietly, they continued up the path, and then left it to walk through the forest to the front of the house. Peering through the trees, they watched as an airplane landed in the front yard. Recognizing Clint's plane, Georgiana moved towards it. Bucky's hand shot out and pulled her back into the cover of the trees. Slowly, the ramp of the plane touched the ground. A group of people ran down the ramp and into the cabin, turning on all the lights. Someone came back out on to the porch.

It was Wanda.

"They aren't here," she called out towards the plane. She sounded like she was in a panic.

Sharon came running down the ramp of the plane and into the cabin, a large, red first aid kit under her arm. Sam appeared from inside the house to stand beside Wanda.

"Bucky! Georgiana!" Sam called out. Still, Bucky motioned for her to stay still.

Within the group that raced down the ramp were people Georgiana had never seen before, but all seemed to be wearing a suit of some kind. Tony came down the ramp, still in his Iron Man suit, walking backwards and speaking fast. Georgiana couldn't make out what he was saying from so far away, but she knew something was wrong.

And then Steve and someone she didn't recognize came carefully down the ramp of the plane, holding on to a stretcher. Natasha was holding the hand of the person on the stretcher, and she had a very focused, strained look on her face.

Clint. Clint was on the stretcher. And by the sound of it, and the way people were acting, it was bad.

Georgiana raced from the woods towards them, Bucky on her heels.

Tony, who holding the door open for the people carrying the stretcher, saw her coming first. "Stop her!" he called out to no one in particular. "Someone grab her!"

Bucky lunged forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her back. Georgiana fought against him, twisting her arm the way Sharon had taught her. He slipped and let go of her, and she ran towards Clint.

"Don't let her touch him!" Someone called out. Steve, maybe. Everyone was talking at the same time.

Bucky suddenly grabbed her again, only this time he swung her off the ground. Everything seemed to rotate as she found herself in the air, and then she was on Bucky's metal shoulder, his arm around her to keep her in place.

"Let me go!"

Bucky held on, and she struggled against him. She had almost reached the cabin. Steve and the new guy disappeared inside with Natasha, carrying Clint. It was almost impossible to move on Bucky's shoulder, but she tried anyway. She could help. She could heal Clint. Clint was injured. Why weren't they letting her help? Why couldn't she be useful? Were they really going to stop her from healing a friend, when she had already healed so many people she didn't know and had no attachment to?

Finally, she remembered the day Sharon and Sam had taught her ways to get out of this position, and she wrapped an arm around Bucky's neck before swinging her legs as hard as possible. The shift of weight, and with his other hand going for the arm she had around his neck, Bucky lost balance. His hold on her loosen just enough for her to wiggle free and charge into the cabin.

Steve immediately caught her and held her back.

"Georgy, stop," said Steve, as he wrapped his arms around her to hold her back. She heard Bucky run into the cabin behind her.

The inside of the cabin was packed with people, all of who smelled of sweat and looked nervous. They had cleared the kitchen table and had placed Clint's stretcher on top of it. Wanda had replaced Natasha's role of holding Clint's hand, which to Georgiana's horror, looked limp. Natasha was sitting at the table, looking slightly lost as Sharon and Sam buzzed around with the first aid kit.

Another man in a metal suit, not Tony, was telling people to give them some space and pushed people into the living room. Tony, who had now discarded his Iron Man suit ran back outside and reappeared moments later with another medical kit, which Sam took. A man with red skin was floating behind Wanda. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

Georgiana struggled in Steve's arms. "Let me help!"

Steve held on tight. "Sorry," he said. "But he is too injured."

"I can heal him!"

Steve's calm and collected voice made her angry. "If you take his injures you could die."

Which meant that they thought Clint was going to die.

Georgiana stopped struggling, deciding to go for the calm and collected approach. "I've healed mutation and terminal cancer," she said, trying to speak as calm and clearly as possible. "I've healed being shot in the stomach. I can help him."

Steve said nothing.

"Bucky saw it happen," Georgiana said. "Tell them I can help."

Bucky looked down at his feet.

"It isn't something we are willing to risk," said Steve.

Sharon's voice came in loud and clear over the sound of everyone talking in the small cabin. "If you could all give us the room; things are about to become a little messy."

Steve started to push her back outside onto the porch. She pounded on his chest as everyone except Wanda, Natasha, Sharon, Sam, and the stranger with the red skin, shuffled outside.

Georgiana caught one last glimpse of Clint, motionless on the table, before the door shut.


	12. Chapter 12

_Thanks again for all the follows/reviews/favorites. You guys are my favorite._

 **Chapter Twelve**

The overwhelming tightness and pressure on her skin was the only thing she could concentrate on. She felt it the moment the door was closed, and its sudden arrival made her buckle over. Steve, who still had his arms wrapped around her, caught her as she bent over. The tightness was so powerful it was painful, and it reminded her of the suffocating feeling she had felt when she had dreamed of how Wade had become Deadpool. Focusing on the uncomfortable sensation, she barely noticed as Steve picked her up and placed her down in the middle of the porch.

If she concentrated hard enough, she found she could tell where Clint was hurt. There was a dull ache on the right side of her chest, and it seemed to pulse around her torso and forearms. Georgiana focused on the feeling for a while, hoping that as long as she could feel it that Clint was alive. But she didn't know if that was true. Maybe she would still feel the injuries of a dead body just as much as she would a living one.

After a while the feeling started to make her feel nauseous. She was aware that Steve was sitting beside her, an arm around her shoulders in an effort to both give a sense of comfort and to make sure she didn't try to run inside the cabin. Distantly, she heard him ask what was wrong with her, and just as distantly, she heard Bucky start to explain how she had told him she could sense and feel injuries.

Breathing deeply, Georgiana tried to push the feeling of tightness away. The cloud of pain and suffocating lifted slightly, and she was able to look around and actually notice her surroundings.

Steve sat beside her, looking concerned. His face was dirty. Bucky was standing opposite them, looking tense and worried. He and Steve seemed to be having a mental conversation. They kept sending each other small gestures.

The porch was crowded with people, and Georgiana realized that Steve had put her in the middle so that there were people to stop her if she ran to the front door, and people to stop her if she tried to make a break for the back door. Tony and the other man in a metal suit, who had taken off the top part of his suit so that only his legs looked machine, stood by the front door. On the other side of the porch was the man who had helped Steve carry in Clint's stretcher. At the very end a gangly person was sitting on the porch rails, covered head to foot in a red and blue spandex looking suit, which had a web like looking pattern.

Still focused on the tightness on her skin, Georgiana realized that Clint was not the only one injured. If she concentrated hard enough, she could tell that Steve's ribs were bruised, as were Tony's. The person at the end of the porch completely covered and masked had a headache. And the man by Tony, who was now only wearing the bottom part of his metal suit, seemed to be injured at the spine. Georgiana wondered if he would be able to walk if it wasn't for the lower half of his suit.

Tony was the first to notice she was once again aware enough to take in her surroundings. "She's back!"

Despite the light tone Tony used, it clearly sounded forced. His face looked strained.

"What happened?" Georgiana asked. Tony seemed to recognize her serious tone, despite the fact that it wavered because she still felt the pressure of injuries on her skin.

She looked towards Steve, but he was still having a silent conversation with Bucky. Bucky, in return, was looking both pained and sheepish. For a moment, Georgiana felt a warm pool gather in her center as she remembered his lips kissing her forehead, nose, and cheek. But the feeling melted away when she realized that if it hadn't been for him, Clint might already be healed.

"You didn't," said Steve, and Bucky blushed, looking down at his feet so that his hair shadowed his face. "We were gone for two days, man."

"It's not what you think," said Bucky.

"Someone tell me what happened." Georgiana's voice didn't raise, but the sternness seemed to gather everyone's attention. Steve and Bucky returned to their silent conversation, so she ignored them and put her attention towards Tony.

Tony sighed. "First," he said, holding up a finger. "I'm really sorry we kept you from healing Clint. I get that that's your thing." He gestured wildly at the word "thing".

Georgiana cocked her head to the side. Now that she had regained control over the sensation that came from being around people who were injured, she felt the fight and the drive she had when she had seen Clint on the stretcher return. This was not over. She would heal him.

"Second-" said Tony, but Georgiana held up her hand to stop him.

She stood. Everyone on the porch tensed, obviously ready to keep her out of the cabin.

"Never mind, I know what happened," Georgiana said. She could still feel it within herself, the exact place that Clint had been hit. Her steady, calm voice surprised her. "He was hit on the right side of his chest and it sent electrical spikes across his torso and forearms." She absentmindedly rubbed the spot on her own body. "It was some sort of electrical dart, or something."

She looked around the porch to see if anyone would confirm this. By the looks of surprise on their faces, she had been able to guess correctly. Tony's eyes bulged, the other metal suit man's eyebrows lifted up unnaturally high, and the stranger who had helped carry in Clint had his jaw open.

Tony nodded. "We brought Clint here because we were having a hard time helping him on a moving aircraft, and the hospital at Stark Tower was too far away. We are hoping we can get him staple enough here to transfer him to a place with better medical staff and equipment."

"That won't be necessary," said Georgiana. "I'll take care of him."

"No."

"It's not a good idea."

"It isn't safe."

Steve sighed beside her. "Georg-"

"No," she said, turning to stare Steve down. "I know I can do this. I'll admit I don't know much, but this, I got." She pointed towards the three strangers on the porch. "And I don't even know you guys, so stay out of this."

The man wearing the metal legs crossed his arms, but didn't speak again. The man who had carried in Clint put his hands up in the air, as if in surrender. And the gangly one wearing the full suit pulled off his mask and said, "You're right." Georgiana was surprised to find that he was young. No more than a teenager.

Tony cleared his throat, sounding bored and tired. "Georgiana, meet Peter Parker, Scott Lang, and Rhodey."

But she didn't care, she was watching Steve.

"You could die if you take his injuries," he said.

"I'll be fine," Georgiana said. Steve started to talk again, but she continued speaking over him. "I'm been captured twice since I have started to remember, and apparently I was captured back before I can remember too. If you honestly want me to continue thinking that you aren't holding me hostage here, you are going to let me make my own choices."

Steve opened his mouth, and then shut it. But she could tell he was still going to stop her.

"Got it, _Captain_?" Georgiana said.

The fight in Steve's eyes left, and he sighed. Georgiana took a step towards the door. Bucky's hand touched her arm gently, and he shook his head.

"Trust me," she said. Bucky bit his lip and let go.

No one stopped her from entering the cabin, but they watched her with solemn expressions as she closed the door on them.

Inside, things were much more chaotic. Sharon was currently trying to pull out what Georgiana had correctly guessed was a long, needle looking dart out of Clint's chest. The needle would vibrate and send out zaps of electricity each time Sharon tried to move it. Wanda was concentrating, one of her hands still holding Clint's limp one, and the other was reached out towards the needle. A small, red ball of energy seemed to be coming from her fingers, and looked as if it was acting as a shield to keep the electric sparks away from Clint's body. Natasha was sitting near Clint's head. She looked frozen, numb, and there were unshed tears in her eyes. Sam was helping Sharon, his focus on the needle.

It was the stranger, the floating man with the red skin, who noticed her first.

"Miss Georgiana," he said, and stopped floating to place his feet on the ground. "I do not think it is wise that you are here."

Georgiana marched over to the table. "You don't get a vote," she said, and then touched Clint's limp arm.

The dart, still half in Clint's chest, flung out of his body by itself and flew across the room. Wanda, Sharon, and Natasha dove away from the table.

She heard Sam yell something out, but she couldn't make out the words. Everything seemed fuzzy and muted. She saw the ceiling come in to view as she started to fall, and then Sam's face as he caught her. A shock, similar to the one she had felt when she had pressed Box Face against the bars of her cage, spiked through her body, starting at her chest.

And then she was gone.

 **X-X-X**

"Hey. Want me to take over watch?"

"Nah. I'm good."

"Bucky, you need your rest, too."

It felt strangely like being underwater. The voices were muted, and everything she became aware of she noticed slowly. Like the feeling of something soft under her head. Or the weight of her quilt draped over her. Georgiana felt as if her body was floating. Weightless and unresponsive.

"So what happened? While we were gone." That was Steve's voice. Quiet and kind.

"Nothing happened." Bucky. His voice sounded rough and soft and crinkly. She knew that voice.

She heard someone sigh. "Bucky, come on, I know how you get with girls." Steve's voice sounded both stern and amused. He seemed lost between the role Georgiana had seen him take as a leader and the role she sometimes saw him slip into when he was messing around with Bucky.

"How I used to be with girls." Bucky, again. "I haven't been that version of myself for a long time."

Something under her dipped, and Georgiana's mind pieced together the memory of what it felt like when someone shifted or sat on a bed.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Steve. "It's just, it isn't like you, to get attached. Especially so fast."

"She's just, she's just." Bucky's voice again. "She is the toughest and gentlest person. Ever."

"Which is why moving fast with her is a problem."

"The current me and her . . . we're almost similar."

Friends. Running. Helping. Holding Hands. Wind. Clint. Hugs. Laughing. Learning. Almost. Bucky.

"The current you?" Steve.

Another deep breath.

"I'm not the same person I was when we were kids." Bucky.

"I know that." Steve.

"And I am never going to return to that person. I wish I could, but I can't. I did those things . . ." Bucky. Sounding soft.

"Those things weren't your fault. You didn't have a choice. That wasn't you. And I'm not expecting you to change back into who we were as kids. What do you take me for? Jerk." Steve.

"Punk." Bucky.

The voices were starting to blur. Georgiana lost the sense of awareness.

"I'm with you till the end of the line."

 **X-X-X**

Awareness to her surroundings snapped into focus so fast Georgiana felt dizzy. She was lying on her side in her bed, the quilt covering her was warm and pleasant, and her pillow was soft but firm enough that her head felt stable. The dizziness disappeared.

Lying on top of her bed beside her, on his back, was Bucky. And he was reading. There was light coming into the room, and by the quietness of the cabin, Georgiana guested it was early morning. The light was tinted orange, and it colored Bucky's face in a warm glow.

"Hey," she said, but her voice broke and no sound came out.

She could feel her entire body, and it had that familiar feeling of resting. Georgiana felt surprisingly warm and comfortable, and the thought to move only briefly crossed her mind before it floated away.

"Hey," she tried again.

This time Bucky shot upward. Suddenly the book was gone and he was leaning over her, one of his hands stroking her hair. He looked soft and gentle in the morning light, and although his smile was small, his eyes searching her face were happy.

"Hey," he said, still stroking her hair. "How do you feel? Do you need water? Are you hungry?"

Georgiana blinked slowly, realizing that she was tired and that her chest ached. "How is Clint?"

Bucky's smile grew, and he shook his head, amused. "Clint is great. He has been up and running for a few days now."

All of Georgiana's reactions seemed slow. It seemed to take forever for her to frown. "How long have I been out."

"About a week," said Bucky.

"Did everyone leave?" Georgiana asked. Besides their whispers, she hadn't heard anything outside of her room. Bucky grimaced.

"Nope, they have all stayed here to draft their amendments to the Accords together," said Bucky. "It has made for one very crowded and stressed cabin."

She felt the edges of her mouth smile. "Is that why you're hiding in here with me?"

A low, quiet chuckle escaped Bucky. "Why else?"

She blinked again, her eyelids heavy, and she might have felt him kiss her temple.

"You didn't trust me," she said, her smile leaving. "To save Clint. I thought you trusted me."

"I do trust you," he said. She blinked again, and this time her eyes didn't open. She felt herself settle into the feeling of her bed and Bucky stroking her hair. "But I also trust everyone else's wish to keep you safe. They told me to stop you, so I did."

Her emotions and thoughts seemed small and uncontrolled. For a moment, she might have giggled.

"Your voice in crinkly," she said, and then the sense of awareness slipped away again.

When she woke up, it was Wanda, not Bucky, who was sitting on her bed reading a book. Almost too cheerfully, Wanda forced Georgiana to drink two glasses of water that sat on her bedside table and eat a muffin. Then, as Georgiana got used to being vertical again and standing on her own two feet, Wanda went through her clothes. She chatted happily as Georgiana changed.

"So what happened in the first place," Georgiana asked, running a hand through her hair. "In Scotland, and at the base."

Wanda handed her a comb.

"We split up when we got there, Vis and I went with Tony and Natasha. We were looking for Bruce," said Wanda. "Only we never found him. It wasn't until we got back here that Bucky told us Bruce called you." Wanda paused to hand Georgiana another glass of water and a granola bar. "Steve, Sam, Rhodey, and Scott went looking for the Spring Soldiers. Those, we found. There were only two at the base, and they were a handful. When we realized that Banner wasn't there we went to help. These Spring Soldiers, they had a lot of power. Just strength, really, but also thick skin. It was hard to get them down. They were in this rage, from that purple drug, I think, and just as they were starting to wake up, those electric darts were shot. The two Spring Soldiers died."

Georgiana sat back down on her bed, the glass of water and half eaten granola bar loose in her hands. They had died? They had been like her, and Bucky, and Bruce. They had been there as prisoners.

"Who shot the darts?"

Wanda sighed. "Just one of the workers at the base. They didn't want us to get our hands on the Spring Soldiers, so they – they killed them."

For a moment, Georgiana could sense the weight in Wanda's chest. The lightness had left her, and it was clear to see that Wanda didn't like seeing anyone get hurt.

"Well," said Wanda, trying to move the conversation along. "Clint had gone off alone, to get more information and a sample of their purple drug. Which he did, we have it in the airplane right now, ready to be taken to one of Tony's labs. He was ambushed on his way to meet back up with us. It was Peter who found him."

For the first time, Georgiana realized that there was a stream of endless chatter coming from outside her bedroom.

"They are drafting an amendment to the Accords," Wanda explained. "We have been trying to find a middle ground so that we agree with their wishes to not go on missions without their consent, but that we have to agree to go on those missions. They can't just tell us what to do. Also, they can't just lock us up when we don't comply with them."

Wanda led Georgiana out of her bedroom. The living room was crowded with people, all of who were huddled around the coffee table with the draft of their amendments. Georgiana searched the crowd. There was Steve and Tony, closest to the coffee table and arguing with each other. The kid, Peter, was sitting on top of the couch and talking to Sam. Natasha sat quietly in the corner. Scott, Rhodey, and Sharon were acting like an outside circle as they surrounded the coffee table.

The man with the red skin floated through the wall from outside and into the cabin. Georgiana jumped backwards into Wanda, who giggled quietly and whispered.

"That's Vision. Or Vis. He just does that."

Clint, who was standing beside Natasha, saw her and smiled.

Before she really knew what was happening, she had her arms wrapped around him. Clint hugged her back, his arms so tight around her torso her feet left the ground.

When he finally set her down, he kept his hand on her shoulder when she pulled away. He looked healthy. The room had gotten quiet, everyone's eyes on them. Georgiana felt herself blush. She looked at Steve, who nodded at her once in a way that said, "well done." Bucky was grinning at her from across the room.

Something clicked then, and Georgiana followed the impulse.

"I want to start coming with you guys on missions," she said. "If I am with you, then I could stop the injuries before they get that bad, and this wouldn't happen again."

The happy expressions on everyone's faces disappeared, slowly melting away into frowns and wrinkled foreheads and down cased eyes.

"I wouldn't feel comfortable with that," said Sharon, looking sorry as she said it. "I've been working with you every day, and you aren't ready to be around some of the stuff that we see. And I don't feel comfortable teaching anything other than self-defense with you."

Georgiana had always known there was a reason she had never bonded with Sharon.

"I'll do it."

Everyone's head snapped towards Natasha.

"I'll stay and train you," Natasha repeated. "You're right. Had you had been with us we could have gotten you to Clint before it became so bad that we were afraid to let you heal him."

"Nat," Steve warned.

Natasha stood her ground. "It's her choice, Steve. If she wants to help, the least we can do is prepare her."

There was a long moment where nothing happened except the speed at which Georgiana's heart accelerated. Then, another smile appeared on Steve's face and he nodded.

"Good," said Natasha, and shot Georgiana a cocky smile. "We'll start tomorrow morning."


	13. Chapter 13

_You guys are the best!_

 **Chapter Thirteen**

The first week of training with Natasha Romanoff went rather smoothly.

Natasha worked very differently than Sharon or Sam. Natasha would teach Georgiana something once, move away from it, and then come back to it when it was least expected. There was a physiological element to her training that Sharon had never had. Natasha was never going to do exactly as she said she was going to do. She was never just going to let Georgiana win.

"Right. Left. Left. Knee. Low. Right."

Instead of going over one move at a time, Natasha preferred to fight Georgiana continuously, usually calling out what she was going to do before she did it. So that if Natasha said "left" Georgiana new to block Natasha's left fist. The idea was that this was a more practical training score, and that this way Georgiana would start to be able to predict what people were about to do by the way they moved and shifted their weight.

"Left. Right. Right."

Instead of punching with her right fist twice, as she had said she would, Natasha swung her leg around and knocked Georgiana on the ground.

Georgiana learned very fast not to trust everything Natasha called out when they trained like this, which ended up helping because Georgiana concentrated more on Natasha instead of what Natasha said.

The second week of training came quickly, as did the departure of most of the other people currently living in the very crowded cabin.

Vision, Rhodey, Sharon, and Sam left to meet with the National Board of the Sokovia Accords to show their proposed Amendments. Clint, after a very long goodbye and another promise to Georgiana that she could come and stay with his family whenever she wanted, went home. He had promised to take his kids fishing, and he was going to research who the two Spring Children had been before their capture, in case their family needed to be notified that they had died. Their personal information might also give leads as to how The Departed worked.

Tony returned to Stark Tower to run tests on the sample of the purple drug that Clint had almost died retrieving.

"Was that the famous Pepper Potts?" Georgiana had asked him, the night before he left, after she had walked onto the porch to find Tony ending a call.

"The one and only," Tony had said. To her surprise, and what Georgiana would later guess was a rare moment of openness from Tony, he showed her a picture of a pretty woman with ginger hair on his phone.

"She's beautiful," Georgiana had said, and Tony had mumbled something with a sarcastic undertone and put his phone away. "How are you guys?"

For a moment Tony had tried to brush her away, and then paused to study her, as if trying to figure out if she really cared. Georgiana waited patiently.

"Better, actually," Tony had said. "Maybe you were right, about this being where we start. To, you know, heal, or whatever. I thought, well, hoped, the Accords were going to do that. Big mess that made."

There was something about Tony that made Georgiana like him. After Tony left, she would often wonder if it was because she wanted to heal him, and therefore was drawn to be around him. But his injuries weren't physical.

"All we can do it try," she had said. "Right?"

He had patted her hard on the shoulder then, and Georgiana took it to be the equivalent of a hug.

Perhaps supporting, or just listening, to people was all the healing anyone could ever do.

The third week of training with Natasha was when things started to become interesting.

Natasha had always suggested that they trained not in a way that would teach Georgiana how to copy her skills, but in a way where Georgiana would build her own skill set. Which meant that they had to brainstorm what Georgiana would be good at and what she needed to know in order to survive on missions.

Natasha had looked Georgiana over once and said, "You might be able to throw a good punch, but someone else is going to be able to put a lot more weight into their attack. Your speed, brain, and ridiculous power to sense injuries, is how you are going to take people down."

Georgiana had nodded, and as always she tried to memorize everything Natasha said. "What are you suggesting?"

Natasha had smiled. "What to go shopping?"

Once in town and in a very popular and crowded clothing store, Natasha leaned into Georgiana and whispered, "Alright, the women to my left, what is her weakness?"

Georgiana concentrated, staring at the women. "She isn't injured."

"Everyone is injured," Natasha said, looking at a jacket and sounding bored. "Try harder."

Georgiana focused her attention on the women and waited. There. It was small, but there was a little bit of tightness on the skin around Georgiana's knee.

"Her right knee," Georgiana said, turning her attention back to the clothing shelf. "It gives her problems. She might have had a surgery on it years ago."

"Good, so if she was fighting you?"

"I would go for her knee?"

Natasha punched Georgiana's forearms gently. "Right. Try again, this time don't stare the person down when you are concentrating. It gives you away. Try to feel it without looking at them. Also, while we are out here, let's start working on how to make you a little less noticeable in crowds."

"I already tried dying my hair."

That had made Natasha laugh. "It isn't about what you look like. It's how you act."

"How should I act?"

"Depends on the situation."

The fourth week of training with Natasha was when Georgiana started to notice the odd interactions between her current mentor and the captain.

"What are you looking at?"

Georgiana jumped. Which hurt. Natasha had been extra aggressive in training earlier and Georgiana was sore everywhere. When she had been heading for bed, she had noticed the soft laughter that she now recognized as Natasha's coming from the living room.

Bucky was watching her, half of his mouth pulled up in a smile where he stood in the doorway of the bathroom. Georgiana took a handful of his shirt and pulled him into her bedroom.

"Did you see that?" Georgiana asked, peering again around the corner of her door into the living room. When Bucky said nothing, she noticed that he had a slightly red tone on his cheeks and was refusing to meet her eyes. She let go of his shirt.

Georgiana could just make out the back of the couch, where both Natasha and Steve were sitting. They were close together, and Steve had his arm around the back of the couch.

"They're just reading an email from Tony, I heard them talking about it," said Bucky.

Georgiana shook her head. "Just watch."

Right on cue, Steve's fingers brushed the back of Natasha's shoulders.

"Steve uses you as an armrest when you stand by him," said Bucky, shrugging. "It's nothing."

"Maybe to him," Georgiana said. "But Natasha is letting him do that. And no one ever touches her first. She goes to them, that's how she stays in control."

Bucky chuckled quietly. "And you know this because you are now a master at reading people?"

Georgiana turned completely away from the door to face him, noticing that he had stayed close to her even though she had let go of his shirt. With all of the extra people around, Georgiana had seen less of Bucky lately. And because Natasha's training always left Georgiana heal sleeping, her nightmares about Bucky's past had been placed on hold, which meant that Bucky hadn't needed to come into her room and calm her down.

"I'll let you know that I have always been a master at reading people," she said, realizing once again that he was a full head taller than her as she strained to look up. "Also, she told me."

"She told you?"

"Yes," said Georgiana. "She suggested training me how to flirt with people to get information out of them."

In Bucky's silence, she felt herself heat up in the face. "We only tried it for twenty minutes before she gave up on me and we moved on. Apparently I am too quick to blush."

Bucky grinned and peered around her door to look into the living room, one of his hands came up to her face and brushed her hair behind her ear. Georgiana turned red.

"You are."

The fifth week of training was when Scott Lang became bored enough to be a distraction.

Scott, like everyone else, couldn't been seen in public places until the Amendments to the Accords were fully agreed on. Otherwise, he might end up in a cell. So he had been staying at the cabin instead of the safe house Tony had set up, claiming that he liked the environment better, although Natasha said it was because he was a fanboy of Steve and enjoyed Peter's company more than adults.

Scott would often try, and then fail, to run with Georgiana in the morning. Then, he would watch her train with Natasha and call out extra advice. At first, Natasha didn't mind. She said it was good practice to ignore the useless information and focus on what was important during a fight. But after a good hour of him nonstop talking about the first time he had run into Sam - "by accident, I of course had no idea the place belonged to the Avengers until I was already there" – Natasha stopped him.

"Why don't you join us today," Natasha asked him sweetly. "I could use a break, but Georgiana should still keep going."

Georgiana couldn't help but think that he should have known, really. Natasha never needed a break.

Scott, grinning ear to ear, jogged off the porch to stand in front of Georgiana. Natasha leaned into her and whispered, "Take him down, please," before jogging towards the cabin to grab water bottles.

When Natasha returned, Georgiana had her foot on Scott's back and his arm locked behind him. Scott's face was in the grass.

"Look!" said Georgiana. "I actually did it! Maybe next time you should send me a real challenger. Who would be the most challenging, anyway?"

Natasha laughed. "Besides me? Barnes, I guess. When he is in full Winter Soldier mood, he can take us all on at once. Although I doubt he could do that when he is actually aware of what he is doing. And I don't think he'll ever agree to spar with you."

"Don't get cocky," Scott mumbled into the lawn. "I don't even have my suit on."

Which was true, but Georgiana still counted it as a win.

In the sixth week of training, Steve, Bucky, and Scott left the cabin to travel to the last known location of Bruce Banner. Hoping that at the very least they would be able to tell once and for all if he had been recaptured or not. Natasha had paled when they had mentioned Bruce's name.

The day before they left Georgiana realized that she had never spent a day away from Bucky since she had met him. Shyly, she admitted that realization when he found her after dinner holding her knees towards her chest, her book forgotten as she sat on the floor and leaned into her bed. Bucky sat down beside her.

"I know," he said. "It'll be weird."

Georgiana kissed his cheek. "Be careful."

The seventh week of training was surprising fun.

The only people left at the cabin was Georgiana, Natasha, and Peter Parker. It seemed like an odd group the first few days, but Georgiana found that she actually really enjoyed it.

Peter had to wait one more week before he could return home. The people who ran the Accords didn't know his identity, so at the very least he had the option to return home, but he had told his Aunt that he was at a summer camp for aspiring scientists, and therefore couldn't return home too early without his Aunt realizing that he had never gone to camp.

The teenager had been spending his time at the cabin building things with Tony, until Tony left, and then tinkering with Scott's suit, until Scott left, and then binge watching things on his laptop. Finally bored, he had asked to join Natasha and Georgiana's training. To Georgiana's surprise, Natasha agreed.

Sparring with Peter was a fun challenge that Georgiana failed at every single time. He was fast and unpredictable, and just when she thought she had him, her hands would be tied together by webbing.

"Gotcha!" Peter said, every single time Georgiana was hit by the webbing and fell to the ground in a tangled mess.

The odd trio spent much of the week in the nearby town, working once again on Georgiana's ability to sense physical weaknesses in people and how to blend into crowds.

"I'm really sorry, by the way," Peter had said as he and Georgiana wandered around the store Natasha had disappeared into a few minutes ago.

"For what?" Georgiana asked.

"For telling Wade about you before I told Tony," said Peter. "I just kind of blurted it out. If I had just waited to tell Tony first . . ."

Peter left for home the next day. Georgiana had been sad to see him go. He was funny.

The eighth week was when Steve and Bucky returned to the cabin.

"They don't have Banner," Steve said in place of a greeting. "But we do have another problem."

Georgiana and Natasha had met them in the front yard, and the warm summer breeze danced around them.

"What?" asked Natasha.

"The Departed, their leader, Andrew McCaffrey, is still alive," said Bucky.

Georgiana's stomach twisted. McCaffrey was the name of Box Face. McCaffrey was the one she had pulled onto the bars of her cage and fried.

"Ho-how?" Georgiana asked.

Steve rubbed his forehead. "He didn't die because your bare skin was touching his when you tried to kill him. Apparently that was enough skin to skin contact to keep him alive long enough for one of his men to get him into a hospital."

"With McCaffrey still alive, this whole thing could be more dangerous than we thought," said Bucky.

"Nat, we need you get back in touch with Clint and find out everything we can about McCaffrey and the people he is turning into Spring Children," said Steve. "I'll see what Tony has gotten out of the sample of the purple drug. And make sure Sam and Sharon know that we need the Amendments to the Accords to be passed as quickly as possible."

"Sorry, Georgy," said Natasha. "Looks like training is over."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Natasha left almost immediately. Ever since they had returned carrying Clint on a stretcher, Tony had made sure there were multiple planes and vehicles around. A barn had quickly been built to store them a little way away from the garage, in the tree line of the woods that surrounded the cabin.

"Just remember, find weakness and take your opponents down using them," Natasha said over her shoulder, as she jumped into one of the getaway cars. "People are always going to be taller and stronger than you, so use their weight against them."

"Nat, I'll be fine," said Georgiana. "I'm under cabin lock down, remember?"

"Be careful," said Steve, handing Natasha her duffle bag. "We still don't know much about these guys."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Natasha said. Steve rolled his eyes heavenly. Natasha had been calling him Captain ever since she found out Georgiana had used that convince him to let her heal Clint.

Starting up her car and rolling down the window, Natasha called out towards Bucky, who was holding the large barn door open for her. "See you later, big boy."

Georgiana's face turned red. Natasha winked at her.

Once the car was out of sight, Bucky closed the barn door and relocked it.

"I'm going to call everyone, keep them updated and discuss plans for next week," said Steve, and jogged towards the cabin.

"What plans?" Georgiana asked, walking beside Bucky. He seemed much calmer than his friend as they strolled in the direction of the cabin's front door.

"We found an abandoned base used by The Departed and retrieved some of their files," said Bucky. His voice sounded strangely detached. "We visited our friend T'Challa, and he helped us decode them. There were dates and locations in the encoding. The first location was the village in Scotland that they attacked, the second is in New York on the fourth of July. Next week."

"If the base was abandoned how do you know it those files are still valuable?"

Bucky, still distant, shrugged. "We don't. But it's all we have."

Georgiana reached out and took his hand, pulling him to a stop so that they stood by the garage, somewhat out of the view from the cabin. He looked to the ground and refused to meet her eyes, but he didn't fight her, either.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Bucky sighed and looked at her. He looked anxious. Georgiana's eyes widened. He looked away again and shoved his hands in the pockets of the jacket he wore to hide his metal arm in public.

"McCaffrey," he said.

Georgiana's stomach sank. If McCaffrey being alive made Bucky Barnes anxious, then she should be more concerned, too. She had actually been slightly happy to hear that he had lived, simply because it meant that she hadn't killed anyone. At least, not with her bare hands. She had still let the Hulk loose on a base full of people and had accepted the fact that Wade had killed to get to her. But it was McCaffrey's face that sometimes appeared before her, fried and smoking, while she was training. It made her nauseous to think about him. McCaffrey in her mind had always been the example of the extremes she knew she could go when she became desperate. So to hear that he was alive had actually made her slightly happy. She hadn't killed him; he wasn't the extreme.

Yet, somehow, he still was. She hadn't minded trying to kill him to get out of that cage. And now Bucky was worried about him being alive. McCaffrey had, after all, been the one to bring in the man who knew the trigger words to unlocking the Winter Soldier. But those trigger words no longer worked on Bucky, he no longer had a reason to worry about McCaffrey on the level like he seemed to be doing. At least, no reason Georgiana knew of. Sure, McCaffrey was the leader of The Departed and obviously smart, and Steve hadn't been happy to learn he was still alive, but Bucky's reaction was different. Bucky was taking it personally.

"McCaffrey will never cage you up again," Georgiana said softly, hoping to make Bucky feel better.

His jaw tensed, and he glanced at her again. He looked raw. "It isn't me I'm worried about."

Without a word, Bucky turned and started again towards the cabin. Georgiana waited until he had disappeared before wandering over to the swing. With her head resting on the rope, she let the wind sway her back and forth until the sun pasted its afternoon point and started to head under the mountains.

She felt very small. All that training with Sharon, and Sam, and eight full weeks of working with Natasha from dawn to dusk, suddenly felt like nothing. If didn't matter how hard she worked, or how much she wanted to get better so that she could help everyone, she was never being to be able to go up against one of the Spring Children. All she was really good for was healing people.

At least Bruce was okay. Maybe McCaffrey wouldn't be so bad as long as he didn't have the Hulk behind him. Although he did, at the very least, have something Hulk-like. The purple giant in the photos Clint and Natasha had showed proved as much. But what was the point of having to train and build up these Spring Children when there was a giant to work with? What did The Departed even want? Surely, if Steve or anyone knew the answer to that they would have told her.

Georgiana had joked that she was on cabin lock down, but maybe she really was. After all everyone else had either gone home or to the larger safe house Tony had set up. She had always assumed that she had stayed here at the cabin because she didn't have a home to return to. She had never even thought of asking to go to Tony's safe house. What if Steve and the others were keeping her here, where there were usually smaller groups of people, instead of Tony's mansion where everyone stayed, because they didn't want her to know what The Departed wanted.

Surely she was just being paranoid about this. Georgiana watched the sun dip under the snow covered mountain peaks and the sky turn the colors of bruised peaches. Warm summer wind danced around her.

Who was T'Challa? Was there an endless number of secrete superheroes who all knew each other?

"You never came inside."

Bucky, as always, had found her.

He had changed into his sweatpants and blank tank top, which showed his entire metal arm and his lean torso.

"Steve is still on the phone inside," he said. "He's been trying to get to Tony for a couple hours, but every time Tony answers he puts Steve on hold until Steve hangs up. He thinks it's funny."

Georgiana smiled, imagining Tony spinning in an office chair as his phone blinked red, indicating someone on the line.

She waited for Bucky to sit down at the trunk of the tree, like he always had before, but he didn't. He stood in front of her, still looking nervous.

"Why don't you come inside?" Bucky said, shifting his weight from his toes to his heels.

"I'd rather be outside," she said, studying her dangling bare feet. She had kicked her shoes off when she had sat on the swing. "Less cage-like."

"Aw shit," Bucky muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean to scare you, earlier."

Georgiana blinked. "You don't scare me."

He shifted his weight again and glanced over his shoulder. Satisfied that they were still alone, he strode towards her. His metal arm wrapped around her waist and she was easily tugged into the air. Her feet landed on the swing, and his arm dug into her to steady her. Which also meant that she was pressed into him. She was level with him this way, her face inches from his. His other hand wrapped into her loose hair.

Then he was kissing her.

It started off gentle, like the way he kissed her temple when she woke up from dream healing. Then, his kiss turned hungry. It felt raw, as if this was the first time Bucky was just letting himself be without worrying who he was. Tentatively, she tried to keep up. The ferocity of his grip around her waist, and the grinding pressure of his lips, pulled her off balance and off of the swing.

The arm around her waist carried her to the ground, and she barely had time to notice the cool grass tickling her bare feet before he was kissing her again. Both of his hands now dug into her hip bones, pulling the lower half of her body closer to his as he leaned down. She lifted her hands up to cup his face, but instead ending up running them through his hair as she tried to pull him a few more inches down, arching backwards. As if this would somehow make him closer.

A tingling warmth shot through her core, and her body melted towards his until she once again found herself off balance.

Bucky pulled away from her just in time to catch her as she tumbled. He chuckled almost soundlessly as he placed his forehead on hers. Georgiana closed her eyes, enjoying his warmth.

"Sorry for attacking you like that," he said, his voice low and extra crinkly. They separated, him letting go of her waist and her letting go of his surprising soft hair. That lazy smile had returned to his features.

Her tendency to blush finally caught up with her, and she felt herself turn red. Pulling away slightly, she nervously tucked her hair behind her ears and tried to speak calmly over the rapid beating in her chest. "I think I can handle myself."

He grinned, made a move as if to step towards her, and then seemed to think better about it.

A sudden cry filled the air. Georgiana jumped, filching sideways into Bucky, who tensed. The cry, echoing like a long growl, ended just as the last bit of sunlight left. Leaving the woods around the cabin dark. She felt Bucky relax.

"Just an animal," he said, and pushed her shoulder in the direction of the cabin.

Inside, Steve was still on the phone. Georgiana could just make out the higher pitched tone of a woman talking on the other side of the line as she pasted him. Steve had a small, almost guilty looking smile on his face. She had only seen that smile twice before. Once, with Sharon, when she had come up behind him in the kitchen and playfully bit his shoulder, and the other time with Natasha, when she teased him from across the dinner table about his dislike for curse words.

Heart still hammering away in her chest, and her face still feeling slightly warm, Georgiana made a beeline for her bedroom. She could feel Bucky at her heels, and he pulled her to a stop in the doorway of her room, just out of sight from Steve.

Bucky opened his mouth to say something, and then shut it. Georgiana bit the inside of her cheek and glanced at his chest, wondering if it was beating as hard as her own.

"You -," he started. He momentary shook his head and lifted his eyes to the sky, as if annoyed by himself. Then he seemed to soften. "You are never going to be cage again. You don't have to worry about that."

She found herself on her toes, her nose almost touching his. Quickly, she put her heels back into the ground. "I know," she said, then elbowed him in the ribs. "Like I said, I can handle myself."

With his arm propped on the doorway, he leaned down, as if he too was thinking about kissing. "You're very intimidating."

"I'm glad you understand," she said. She knew her face was still slightly flushed. She felt strangely like a hummingbird. Twitchy and with a thundering heartbeat.

 **X-X-X**

"Good morning!" Georgiana said, as she came into the cabin from the backdoor, sweaty from her morning run.

Steve frowned at her.

"What's wrong with you?"

He stood in the middle of the kitchen, a forgotten plate of eggs in his hand as he studied her.

"That's rude." Georgiana willed herself not to flush or think of Bucky.

"You are an active, quiet morning person," Steve said, his voice slightly hushed because Bucky was still asleep in the green bedroom. Bucky had woken both her and Steve up in the night from loud thrashing, caused by nightmares. "Not a talkative morning person."

It was time to change the subject.

Georgiana took the plate of eggs out of Steve's hands and placed it on the counter behind her.

"I want to start coming with you on missions," she said. "And I know that-"

"Sure," said Steve. "You'll come with us next week."

Now it was Georgiana's turn to frown at him. "I thought I would have to fight you on this. I made up a speech and everything."

Steve reached around her to grab his eggs and headed for the table. "No speech necessary. Although just to be clear, you'll be starting out as recon, only."

"Fair."

Opening a drawer, Steve reached for a fork. "Are you sure you're alright? Bucky didn't freak you out yesterday, did he? He has been tense and quick to follow impulses since we found out about McCaffrey. I don't know what he told you, but things are relatively under control."

Tense and quick to follow impulses.

Georgiana started to wring her hands together.

"Whatever happened I'm sure he didn't mean it," said Steve.

He didn't mean it. Impulses. Bucky had been extremely anxious and tense.

"Georgy?"

 _Knock. Knock._

Steve spun around to the direction of the front door. Someone was here.

Georgiana quietly followed Steve into the living room, where he silently picked up his shield, which had been leaning on the pull out bed.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

Steve motioned for her to stay back as he headed for the door. Bucky appeared soundlessly from his bedroom, looking tired but awake. Steve slowly put his hand on the door handle, brought his shield up, and swung the door open.

An extremely tall and broad man, with golden skin and golden hair that reached his shoulders, opened his arms wide in a way that reminded Georgiana of a child asking for a hug.

"Brethren! I am glad to see you."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

"Thor?" said Steve, dropping his defensive stance. "What are you doing here?"

Steve stood to the side and opened the door all the way, letting the stranger enter the cabin. Bucky smoothly glided to stand slightly in front of Georgiana. He, unlike Steve, still looked tense.

The stranger, Thor, clapped his hand down hard onto Steve's shoulder. Georgiana filched at the small _clap_ sound the gesture made.

"It has been too long!" Thor boomed, and placed something he was holding down onto the side table by the door that usually just held keys. It was a thick book and a decorative hammer. For the first time, Georgiana noticed the stranger's odd appearance. His face was handsome, but he wore very odd clothing. It was as if he was trying to dress like a knight, but one that might appear in a Shakespeare play rather than a museum. There was even a long red cape hanging down his back.

"Yes," said Steve, who was looking more pleased by the minute. "Yes it has."

"It was brought to my attention that you were housing a confused Shaymin," Thor said. "I thought the least I could do was bring her this." Thor once again picked up the book. He looked around the room until his eyes fell onto Georgiana. "Ah!" He took a step towards her. Bucky stepped completely in front of her, his hand pressing into her stomach forceing her to take a step back.

Thor frowned at this, and Steve was quick to jump between him and Bucky.

"Thor, this is my old friend Bucky Barnes, and this is Georgiana," said Steve.

Thor's face relaxed again, returning to an easy smile. "Ah, of course, my mistake. It is good that you are defensive. I am Thor of Asgard. I seek no harm."

"Thor is a friend," said Steve. "One of the Avengers."

Another Avenger. Georgiana sidestepped Bucky to study the towering stranger. How many Avengers could there possibly be?

Bucky finally seemed to relax, and he took Thor's forearm when it was offered to him. Thor turned to her and stuck out his arm. Hesitantly, she took it.

"Nice to meet you," she said, glancing at Steve to see if that was an expectable greeting towards someone who was wearing a cape. Steve nodded once, a small grin playing on his face.

"The pleasure is mine, Shaymin," Thor said, letting go of her arm.

More relaxed, Georgiana turned back to the newcomer. "Where is Asgard?"

Thor laughed. "There is much to discuss. Why don't we sit?"

As he led the way towards the chairs in the living room he passed Georgiana the large book he had brought.

"Oh!" Georgiana dropped the book. It landed with a large _thud_. Her hands tingled. "It shocked me!"

Even now, as the book sat on the floor little yellow lines that moved like lightning crossed the metal looking cover of the book.

"Yes," said Thor, seeming unbothered as he sat in the armchair. "It needs to adjust from my touch to yours. As all Keeping Books must."

The yellow lines started to fade, and instead a white, cloud like smoke started to pulse around the book.

"There," said Thor, "It has recognized you as the Shaymin, you may open it."

Georgiana shot another hesitate look at Steve, but he seemed to be silently communicating with Bucky, who still had a post-glare look on his face aimed at Thor. Georgiana bent down and picked up the book, which was now room temperature. The cover, which still looked like metal, felt light and malleable. The way a plastic bag felt when filled with air.

Sitting on the arm of the couch, close to Thor's armchair, Georgiana opened the book.

"The pages are blank," she said, running her fingers over the soft paper.

"Well, yes," said Thor, laughing. "It is a Keeping Book; you do not read it."

Steve shrugged in a way that suggested there was always going to be questions. For a while, Thor spoke about Asgard and the Nine Realms.

"It's true," Steve had confirmed, when Thor stated he was heir to an alien throne.

"What it a Shaymin?" Georgiana asked, once Thor had trailed off.

"It's you," said Thor. "A Shaymin is a very old word, and I am unsure of which Realm it stems from. But I believe it means healer, or something of the sort. A Shaymin is born with powerful gifts to heal physical injuries with touch or prevent injuries with force-shields. They can always be spotted by their white hair. There is only ever one Shaymin in all Nine Realms at a time. When the Shaymin dies, the powers are sent across the realms and given to someone else. The last one we knew of lived on Nidavellir. I was unaware he died until I heard about you. Midgard has not had a Shaymin for some time."

"I can't create force-shields," said Georgiana.

At the same time, Steve and Bucky both said, "How did you hear about her?"

"From Banner," said Thor. "He has been living in Asgard for some time now. We of course, are more likely to be able to handle his green self should he be angered and appear."

At this news Steve and Bucky started asking multiple questions about Bruce, all of which they asked too fast for Thor to actually answer.

Georgiana tapped at the open book in her lap, pointing at the empty white pages and trying to regain their attention. "What are Keeping Books?"

Thor held up his hands, and Steve and Bucky – who had finally seemed to accept Thor's presence – became quiet.

"That is something I can only explain to you," said Thor. "Perhaps we should go outside?"

Steve and Bucky slumped into their seats like school children who were told they couldn't go out to recess.

Thor walked out the front door, leaving it open for Georgiana to follow. She closed the book and tucked it under her arm to follow him. Passing the side table by the door and noticing the hammer, she paused.

"You forgot this, did you want it?" she asked, and touched the handle of Thor's hammer to pass it to him. She pulled upward, to pick it up, but it remanded where it was.

Caught by surprise, Georgiana touched the handle again and pulled. It didn't budge. Intrigued, she tucked the book more carefully under her arm and wrapped both hands onto the handle. Still, it didn't move. Finally, she let go.

"Wow," she said. "You must be strong. That thing is heavy."

Thor, who had already made it into the yard, bounded back up the porch steps and reached inside the cabin. He picked the hammer up easily.

"Perhaps Mjolnir is a story for another time?" He said.

Still intrigued by the decorative hammer, Georgiana closed the front door and followed Thor. Without hesitation, Thor led her out of the open yard and into the woods. He strode with confidence through the trees, despite there being no path. Georgiana had to jog to keep up with him, the large book awkward in her arms as it pulsed with white misty clouds.

The forest smelled of dirt, pine cones, and flowers. Sunlight beamed in from the open spaces between the trees. The same wild, growling cry that Georgiana had heard last night with Bucky filled the air. Thor turned on the spot, as if heading for the source of the sound.

Finally, he stopped, and Georgiana almost ran into him.

"A Keeping Book holds physical memories," said Thor. He was talking so quietly he was almost hard to hear. Georgiana glanced around them, wondering if he could still possibility be worried about being overheard so far away from the cabin. And then she saw it. The large mound of fur between two distant trees.

It was the grizzle bear.

"I was told you are currently only healing people?" said Thor, his voice still hushed. "I'm sure, had you not suffered from a memory loss, that would not be the case. This book should help jump start your muscle memory into remembering how to have better control of your powers."

Coming from the direction of the grizzle bear, which looked to be lying down, came the loud, deep cry. The sound echoed around the sunlight woods.

Tearing her eyes away from the bear, Georgiana looked at the Asgardian, hoping he would understand the emotions that were currently struggling with each other inside her.

He sent her an encouraging look. "Sit down, open the book, and place the palm of your hands on the pages. Close your eyes, then concentrate."

Sending one last look at the unmoving grizzle bear, Georgiana did as he instructed. Sitting with her legs crossed, she opened the book and placed her hands on the soft paper. She closed her eyes.

For a moment, nothing happened except for the bear crying once again. Then, heat started to build between her hands and the pages of the book. The sensation was the same as if she was digging to find something in someone to heal. Once it reached a comfortable warm temperate, the feeling of warmth spread up her hands to her arms, around her body, and then seemed to cover her closed eyes.

Multiple sounds flooded her ears, but so many voices were talking at the same time that she couldn't make any of it out. She realized none of the voices spoke English. Imagines flashed pasted her closed eyes, too fast to appear solid. Pictures of injured people, giants, dwarves, blue skinned figures, animals, and creatures she had never seen before seemed to morph together as the images raced through her thoughts.

Then the pictures settled, and although Georgiana kept her eyes closed, and her hands on the book, she saw an image of her hand reaching out to touch the image of a child with a bloody nose. At her touch, the child's nose healed. The imaged changed, so that there was a limping dog in front of her. Again, without actually moving, she reached forward and touched the dog. The limp left the animal. There was a dead tree, and at her touch it bloomed and flowered. Lastly, her closed eyes looked down and focused at her hands. In the image created in her mind, there was no book in her lap. Instead, both her hands held the misty clouds that had been on the cover of the book. A tingling sensation ran through her.

Georgiana opened her eyes. Thor grinned down at her. He clapped his hand down on her shoulder, and she waited to feel the weight that he had obviously used when he did this to Steve. It didn't come, and she realized that he was being careful to be more gentle towards her.

Georgiana closed the book and stood back up onto her feet. She tried to gather her thoughts.

"But, I can only heal people," she said, still keeping her voice down because of the nearby bear. "I'm not like those visions, I can't heal animals or plants. And I can't make force-shields."

"Of course you can," said Thor, and turned her in the direction of the bear. "You are a Shaymin, you have simply forgotten. You were born at the same moment the Shaymin before you died. Whether by fate or by chance, you have the same powers of all the Shaymin before you because of that."

The bear cried out again, the sound vibrated in the thick warm forest air.

"Can't we start out with a rabbit, or something?" She asked, realizing why he had brought her here. Her eyes locked onto the grizzly.

Thor nudged her forwards.

Handing the book behind her for Thor to take, she quietly started to make her way towards the animal. Carefully moving around a thick tree trunk, Georgiana stepped closer to the animal. One of the grizzly's leg was caught in a large, rusted looking bear trap. The fur around the area was matted with blood.

Georgiana paused, wondering how to get near enough to let the bear out of the trap, and then heal him, without getting mauled over first.

Taking his attention away from his injured leg, the bear rose to tower over her. He huffed in her direction. Thick, hot air was pushed into Georgiana's face. He smelled of dirt and blood. As a reflex, she held up both hands. The now familiar warmth of healing started to grow in her palms. White misty smoke was dancing around her hands. The bear sniffed at her, still too far away for him to actually reach her, and then his eyes clouded and looked similar to the mist around her hands. The bear huffed again and lied back down.

With the white mist still dancing around her hands, Georgiana reached forward and touched the trap. She thought she would have to pull it open, maybe even ask Thor to help her, but at her touch the trap opened itself, and the bear yanked his leg free. Letting go of the trap, she touched the bear's shoulder.

With another huffing nose, the bear sniffed her and ran away, out of view into the woods. It went, Georgiana noted, without limping.

The misting clouds around her hands disappeared. Suddenly, Georgiana felt very tired. A pain shot through her leg and she buckled onto the forest floor. She inhaled deeply and then held her breath, trying to hold back a cry that suddenly wanted to rip though her. It felt as if her own leg had just been punctured by the trap. Her leg started to bleed. Counting her breaths, she tried to remain quiet and calm as she watched her leg heal itself.

Thor was waiting for her when she managed to stand back up and limp over to him.

"That actually worked." She said, still slightly stunned. "It worked!"

Thor laughed, "You will learn to trust in your intuition."

Noticing her limp, Thor wrapped an arm under her to help take some of the weight off of her leg. It would have been much faster to walk back to the cabin had he just picked up her, but she was thankful that he did not. She didn't need to turn red in front of everyone she met.

It was much longer walk back to the cabin than down to the bear.

"Am I an alien?" she asked as they walked. "Because I have these powers?"

Thor laughed. It was a booming laugh, and it came easily. He was used to laughing.

"Of course not," he said. "You are very much human."

She felt rude to tell him that it was a relief to hear that, considering he was not from Earth, so she decided to change the subject.

"Could I see Asgard?" she asked. "You talked about it so fondly."

"It's possible," he said, the cheerful expression on his face fading slightly. "But I do not recommend it. The moment you are away from a place highly populated by your own species you will lose your powers."

"What if tons of humans went to a different planet? Could I go then?"

"Of that I am not certain, but I would like to think so."

Thor helped her over a fallen tree.

"If I didn't want my powers anymore could I go to Asgard and come back?"

"The moment you lose your powers all the injures you have healed and sleep within your body will return to you. Magic or Asgardian medicine might be able to save you, but that is something that has never been tried before."

When the cabin came back in to view, Steve and Bucky where waiting on the porch. Bucky immediately jogged over and lifted up Georgiana's other side, so that he and Thor had most of her weight. The acceptance Bucky had started to show towards Thor seemed to be disappearing by the moment. It was a rather poor first impression from the outside, Georgiana reasoned to herself. After all, she had gone into the woods healthy and had come back with a limp, so Bucky's stiffness towards Thor was understandable. It still made her slightly uncomfortable, however, to be standing between two people who weren't getting along.

"My leg is already feeling better," she said, but they ignored her.

Bucky helped her onto one of the chairs on the porch, almost yanking her away from Thor when he had tried to help her down. Georgiana bit her lip and tried to ignore the tension that was growing between the two of them, hoping that it would go away.

"You okay?" Bucky asked her quietly, sitting down beside her. She nodded, trying to give him her best everything-is-sunny smile.

"I hear you have been having problems," said Thor, sitting down beside Steve.

Steve rubbed his forehead, and then started to update the Asgardian about The Departed.

Georgiana watched her leg. From the outside it looked normal, but she could feel it healing on the inside. She suddenly wanted to try to heal a plant, wondered how that would physical effect her. Everything she healed ended up injuring herself, but it was not as if plants had limbs. She also wanted to know more about the force-shields. Thor had said they prevented injury, which led her to believe she would only be able to create them if she witnessed something potentially dangerous.

Bucky shifted in his chair beside her, and his metal arm brushed her briefly. He was such an easy distraction. He was watching Thor carefully as Steve continued to explain what they had recently been up to. Bucky had always been slightly protective of her, everyone she had met so far was, but he had never been so obvious about it before today. Georgiana wondered if he truly did not like Thor, or maybe he was still on edge from finding out McCaffrey was alive, or maybe it was because they had kissed.

Georgiana studied her feet, ducking her head so that her hair acted as a curtain. It had been a good kiss. Even now, she could almost feel how his hands felt on her hip bones, or his soft hair, or his pressing lips. She could almost recall the tingling warmth that had shot through her.

"This purple drug you mention," Thor said to Steve, "It sounds familiar. I'd like to see it."

"I'll contact Tony and let him know," Steve said. "He isn't currently at his lab, but he will be tomorrow. We'll go first thing."

Surely, that kiss couldn't have been just because of an impulse, as Steve had suggested. Steve didn't, or hadn't, even known. It was very likely Steve knew now, however. She had been gone with Thor for a while, and she was sure Steve would have been able to tell what happened just from being around Bucky.

It looked like it would be up to her to find out if Bucky had simply been acting on impulses or not.


	16. Chapter 16

_Thanks for all the support everyone! I'm really excited for the next chapter and hope you all are too!_

 **Chapter Sixteen**

"But I knew him."

Georgiana dreamt she was Bucky. She woke up clutching her head, in a tight, tense ball as she lie in her bed. She was becoming used to Bucky's pain. This was the third time tonight she had woken up in her dark bedroom, holding her head as if it would save her life. Thankfully, she no longer woke up screaming.

Her bedroom door was open, and the soft yellow light of the living room lamp was streaming into her dark bedroom. She could hear Steve and Thor talking together quietly. She had gone to bed once Thor had started his fifth story about his warrior training when he was young. The stories about other worlds had been interesting at first, but soon they all ended up blending together because Thor focused most of the story on fighting scenes.

Steve, however, seemed happy to listen to the Asgardian. Steve could get along with anyone. Bucky seemed to be a little more trickery.

During one of Thor's stories he had enthusiastically swung out one of his arms and almost hit Georgiana in the face. It would have just barely missed her, but even not aimed at her Bucky had reached forward and struck the arm away. There had been a very tense moment where Georgiana was worried the two would fight, but then Thor had burst into laughter.

"I like this one," Thor had said, pointing at Bucky but talking to Steve. "A true protector of Midgard."

The two had gotten along after that.

Now, Bucky was asleep on her bed on top of the covers. He had come in when she had woken up thrashing for the first time tonight. He had continued to sleep through her waking up now that she had stopped tossing every time the dreams of Bucky's past returned.

"But I knew him." That was what Bucky had said in her dream before she had woken up. She had a feeling that these painful memory dreams of Bucky's where coming to an end. He had been talking about Steve in this memory.

Slowly, as not to wake him, Georgiana moved so that she was as close to Bucky's sleeping form as possible without actually touching him.

"She appears more innocent than she is," Thor's quiet voice came from the living room. "Around the two of you, and around me, she is calm, quiet, funny. She tries to be polite and make everyone feel better. But Mjolnir wouldn't move for her. She is hiding a part of herself."

"Mjolnir only works for you," said Steve, his voice also quietly coming in from the living room. "And Vision, when he was born. Although Vision has started to change as he is influenced by Wanda. The two of them are close."

"Still," said Thor. "It will be interesting to see her character once she is around other people. This cabin is very isolated."

"This cabin is safe," said Steve. "And isolation is good. Everyone we know wants to try to use her powers."

The two of them continued talking, but Steve changed the subject by asking Thor how a woman named Jane was doing.

She had been trying to avoid the part of her that had a "whatever it takes" mentality. That was the part of her that tried to kill people, or set the Hulk loose. But maybe she needed to stop pushing that side of herself away. She often forgot it was that mentality that had saved Clint's life. Maybe Thor was right, and she was hiding a part of herself as she hid up in this cabin, away from new people because of the possibility of them wanting to use her.

It was time to stop hiding. It was time to trust her intuition.

 **X-X-X**

"We're almost ready to go," Bucky said.

"Look!" Georgiana held up the small potted plant. She had found the plant outside the backdoor, covered in bugs and looking brown. Now, it was green and clean of insects. She brushed her finger on the last half-eaten leaf. The holes in the leaf patched themselves until the leaf was whole and green. "I don't even get dizzy."

"You can heal dead plants?"

Bucky leaned over her, examining the pot in her hands. She had to lean back in order to look up at him from her spot on the front porch steps. Weak morning light warmed her bare legs, and a cool breeze played with her skirt.

"Yep. If I think about it really hard." She held out her hand and Bucky helped her onto her feet.

Bucky started to head in the direction of the barn, where Steve and Thor were supposed to be pulling out one of the high-tech planes so that they could go visit Tony's lab. His hand started to slip out of hers as he turned away.

It was now or never to trust that intuition.

Heart hammering away in her ribs like a hummingbird, she tugged hard on Bucky's hand. He stopped, confusion on his face before she wrapped a hand to the back of his head and pulled him down. She stood on her toes and kissed him.

It was soft and sweet. She wasn't sure how to do it any other way.

Slowly, as if dazed, one of his hands touched the small of her back. The other grazed up the side of her ribs. A burst of giggles escaped her, and she leaned away from his touch. A sly grin lit up his face.

"Are you ticklish?"

"No."

His hand reached towards her side and she swatted it away. Georgiana bounded away from him, heading for the barn. She hears Bucky chuckle to himself as he followed behind her.

"Sorry for attacking you like that," Georgiana said over her shoulder.

Bucky was smirking. "I think I can handle myself."

Thor and Steve have pulled the airplane out into the open space by the barn. The plane was small and covered with mirrors to give it camouflage in the air. The wings are a cross between an airplane and a helicopter. Georgiana bounded over to stand beside Steve, who immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pressed his weight into her, as if she was an armrest or a walking stick.

"Can I co-pilot?" Georgiana asked, as she climbed into the plane after Bucky, who sat in the pilot seat. "I use to fly airplanes before I lost my memories," she added, strapping herself into the seat beside Bucky.

She paid close attention to how Bucky flew the plane. Every once in a while he would remember to explain what he was doing, but the lazy smile on his face was consistent. At one point Georgiana caught Steve watching them carefully, and she made note not to look back at him again, in case she blushed. Whether or not Bucky had talked to Steve about their kiss, it was likely he knew about them now.

It worried Georgiana slightly. Steve was Bucky's best friend, and he seemed very protective of him. Even more so than he was towards her. Steve had implied multiple times that she and Bucky had become too close too fast.

All concentration on how Bucky was flying the plane left the moment New York City and Stark Tower came into sight, and Bucky had to tap her arm multiple times to regain Georgiana's attention and show her how to land. They landed on a helicopter pad on Stark Tower, and Tony was waiting for them.

Georgiana was quick to hug Tony as he led them inside the tower. She had a feeling he wasn't used to much physical affection. He led them towards an elevator, talking mostly to Steve and Thor, and ignoring Bucky almost all together.

The lab took up an entire floor. Windows were everywhere, and most of the walls were made of glass so that even in the center of the floor sunlight beamed inside. There was a glass door that led outside to a balcony.

"Here it is," said Tony, handing Thor a small tube full of purple liquid. "You might not want to do that."

Thor had taken the tube and lifted it up to his lips, taking a small slip.

"Its Thamah," said Thor. "Juice from the rocks in Alfheim. One of the nine realms. The creatures of that world drink it to develop muscle mass and bone density."

Tony blinked. "You're . . . right. It also causes the brain to revert back to instincts, making them more animal like."

"Therefore easier to control," said Steve.

Tony pointed at him. "Correct." Tony flicked his phone and a hologram of a chart started to float in front of him. "It also would make an already large, can't become any stronger creature like the Hulk, to become drowsy."

"How would someone on Earth get that?" Georgiana asked, stepping around Thor to look at the purple drug, Thamah, in his hand.

"I do not know," said Thor. He looked livid. He clutched the tube in his fist and started walking towards the glass balcony. "But I intend to find out."

"Uh, where is he going," said Tony, and then he called out, "I still need that!"

But Thor had already stepped onto the balcony, and a moment later a beam of thick light shot down from the sky. Thor was gone.

Tony groaned, as if in pain, and pressed his hands into his temple. "People shouldn't steal my stuff."

"Is there any more information you could have gotten from the sample?" Steve asked.

Tony glared at him. "There is always more information."

"Isn't it good that Thor knew what it was?" asked Bucky. "He'll be able to get to the bottom of this faster than the rest of us considering this drug doesn't even come from our planet."

Tony ignored him.

"I thought I told you not to bring him here," Tony said, glowering at Steve.

"He's the best pilot at the cabin."

Tony gestured wildly at Georgiana. "She used to fly stunt planes for a living."

"She doesn't remember that."

"What's wrong with Bucky?" Georgiana asked.

Steve squeezed his eyes shut as if she had just asked the worst question in the world. Bucky was staring at the floor, his hair half covering his face. Tony slowly turned to look at her, a mixture of anger and disbelieve on his face.

"What's wrong with-What's wrong with him?" Tony asked. "You mean your little best buddy Bucky hasn't told you what he is?"

"Was," said Steve.

"Is." Tony shot back.

"He didn't have any control over what he was doing," said Steve. "I thought we agreed on that before we joined together to save her, and make amendments on the Accords, in the first place. Back when you sent him a new arm."

Tony stepped in close to Steve's personal space. "Well maybe –"

The elevator opened with a small _bing!_ A ginger haired woman in a long pencil skirt walked into the lab without looking up from her phone. This, then, was Pepper Potts.

"You have nine missed messages from Everett Ross," said Pepper, flicking her ponytail behind her shoulder as she checked something off her phone. "Which I'm assuming is updated information about how the Amendment to the Accords are going. So you might actually want to respond to those. And then . . ."

She trailed off as she looked up and noticed Tony wasn't the only one in the room.

"Pepper," said Steve, kindly.

She smiled at him warmly, which threw Georgiana slightly off, considering Tony's personal behavior towards him at the moment.

"Now isn't the best time," said Tony, already trying to usher Pepper back into the elevator.

"Oh, okay," said Pepper, as Tony put a hand on the small of her back and started pushing her. She seemed to sense the urgency in Tony's voice and body language. Glancing over her shoulder, she met Georgiana's gaze. "Is that her?" Pepper said quietly to Tony. Tony stopped and sighed.

"Yes."

"Well, can I meet her?" Pepper asked, moving away from Tony before he could answer. High heels clicking on the floor, Pepper stood tall in front of Georgiana and offered her a hand and a warm smile.

"Pepper Potts," she said. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Georgiana took her hand and shook it. At the touch, heat built up between their hands and Georgiana found herself healing Pepper. Letting go of Pepper's hand, Georgiana whipped her now running nose.

"Oh! I'm sorry," said Pepper, reaching over her to a box of Kleenex on one of Tony's metal and glass desks. "I forgot I had a cold."

"No problem," Georgiana said, taking the Kleenex. Her voice was now thick sounding, as if she hadn't been able to breathe from her nose for days.

"Here," said Pepper, and now Georgiana was the one being pushed towards the elevator. "Let's go get you some cold medicine. Leave these boys alone to tinker with their toys."

Distracted by the sudden urge to sneeze, Georgiana found herself with Pepper in the elevator. As the elevator door closed, Steve and Tony were already back to arguing with each other. Bucky was still looking at the ground. He looked miserable.

"I thought they were starting to get along again," said Pepper, staring straight ahead at the closed elevator door as they zoomed downward.

"Yeah," said Georgiana, distracted. "I did too."

"Hopeful they will settle everything before we have to deal with them. Or before they blow up my tower."

Georgiana studied Pepper. She started to suspect Pepper had known exactly what she was doing when she had given Georgiana her cold as an excuse to get them both out of the room.

"I heard you were joining them during that Fourth of July mission," said Pepper. Her voice extra bright as she tried to change subjects. "That's exciting. I hear T'Challa will be there, too. In the parade, though. As a demonstration that he once again agrees with the Accords. Hopefully those amendments will set everything right."

Georgiana nodded absentmindedly. She had thought she knew both Bucky and Steve rather well, but now it appeared as if they had been withholding information from her. Then there was Thor. He had just taken off without a clear explanation of what he was going to do or if he was coming back. Anger swelled up at the pit of her stomach.

"Pepper," said Georgiana. "Boys are stupid."

Pepper nodded gravely. "Yes they are."


	17. Chapter 17

_small reminder that i don't own anything marvel or game of thrones (which i mention in this chapter)._

 _also! thanks again for your support in this story! hope you enjoy_

 **Chapter Seventeen:**

The scene waiting for them when the elevator door opened wasn't what Georgiana had been expecting.

Georgiana had self-healed by the time Pepper had led her towards the medicine cabinet, so instead the two had wandered around the lower levels of Stark Tower until they decided to return to the lab.

"Oh. My. God." said Pepper, her voice becoming high-pitched as she stepped off the elevator and into the lab.

Mute, Georgiana followed behind her.

It looked as if a hurricane had gone through this floor of the building. Most of the glass walls were shattered, and lab equipment was thrown all over the floor. Tony was in his Iron Man suit, except for the part that covered his face, and his lip was bleeding. One side of Bucky's face was already covered in bruises. Steve's nose was bleeding.

"What happened?" asked Pepper, trying to walk around the shards of glass on the floor to where the three boys were lined up, lounging in white wicker pool chairs. Where the chairs had come from, Georgiana had no idea, but the boys had pulled them into the sunlight as if they were sunbathing.

"Want us to pull up another chair?" asked Tony, ignoring her question.

Tony's face was relaxed. Whatever had happened up here, while it might have destroyed the lab, seemed to have fixed whatever was causing these three to argue.

Bucky got up from his wicker lounge chair and made his way over to Georgiana. Pepper took his seat so that she could investigate Tony's bleeding lip.

"Can I talk to you?" Bucky asked quietly, leaning down to whisper in Georgiana's ear and placing a hand on the small of her back.

"It's nothing," Tony said to Pepper as she started to scold him.

"I need to tell you something," he said. "Actually, I need to tell you everything."

 **X-X-X**

It was clear that Bucky did not enjoy opening up to people. He didn't look at her once while he talked. Instead, she sat with her legs up underneath of herself in the co-pilot seat of the plane they had used to get to Stark Tower. Bucky had insisted they spoke in the plane that was still on the helicopter pad at the top of the tower, he didn't like the idea that Tony might have cameras inside the other rooms of the building.

Bucky told her everything. Or, at least, Georgiana assumed it was everything. Most of it made sense, and she had been able to guest a lot of it based off of the dreams she had of Bucky's past.

As he spoke, Bucky hung his head slightly so that his hair covered a large portion of his face. His hands nervously played with the buttons, steering wheel, and levers, despite the fact that the plane was not on, as he had in the pilot seat.

When he finally lapsed into silence, he continued to tinker with the controls.

Georgiana reached over and took his hand, he froze. He didn't push her away, though, and Georgiana decided to count that as something.

"Hey," she said. Her voice was soft in the quiet plane. "Do you realize that the only person who hasn't forgiven you yet, is yourself?"

He let out an amused grunt. "I don't want to forgive myself. If I do, then it's like it never happened. And all those people I killed, they just disappear."

Georgiana pulled both his hands into her lap to idly play with his fingers as she let that sink in. She understood that, actually. Understood him. She had long ago noticed that Bucky helped everyone, not just people he thought needed or deserved help, and maybe that came from the part of him that didn't think he needed saving, either. He saw himself in everyone, and in no one.

"You want to know what I think?" she asked.

"Please."

"I don't think things disappear." Georgiana asked. "Look at me, I'm here because I can heal people, and those powers traveled across the universe to get to me when the person who had them before died. This ability didn't just disappear."

Bucky said and did nothing. She waited for a moment for him to look over at her, but he didn't. Carefully, giving him the chance to push her away, Georgiana crawled out of her seat and into his, so that she had her weight on her knees on either side of him. She pushed his chin up until he finally looked at her. She ran a hand through his hair.

"Not letting someone haunt you, isn't the same as forgetting them."

Bucky shook his head, letting out another amused snort as if he didn't believe her. But his hands ran up her thighs to steady her and she slowly sat on his lap, and the gesture was enough to convince Georgiana he was at least considering what she had said.

She pressed her lips to his and pulled away, as if asking a question. Asking him to trust her.

His hand knotted in the hair at the back of her head and he pulled her against him, kissing her eagerly. She stumbled uncomfortably into his lap as they kissed. She pulled away to readjust her position, trying to concentrate as he followed her, kissing her lips, cheeks, jaw. Her hands, which she had placed on his legs to support herself as she moved, shot into his hair when he started to focus his attention on her ear.

She melted into him. His teeth tugged gently on her ear as his hands ran up and down her sides. Unlike earlier, he pressed enough force into the touch that it didn't tickle. A small sound escaped her. His lips returned to hers, and he tugged on her bottom lip to deepen the kiss. His hands dug into her hipbones. Her fingers ran over his arms and abs before settling at his neck and hair.

They didn't pull away until they were breathless.

 **X-X-X**

"On the off chance someone does notice you, tell them you're a huge fan of Daenerys Targaryen. That will explain your hair."

The streets were thick with people dressed in red, white, and blue. Most of the side streets had been shut down so that everyone could gather for the parade. Food carts were yelling out orders of fried hot dogs or fried candy bars. People walked around selling bottled water. Small American flags were being passed out to wave as the floats went by. The children who weren't on their father's shoulders crowded at the edge of the street to scavenge for the candy many of the floats threw as they passed. New York sure knew how to throw a Fourth of July parade.

"Remember to keep an eye over your shoulder," Natasha's voice came again from the earpiece in Georgiana's left ear. "Thick crowds like this are perfect for people to sneak up on you. Memorize every face."

"Don't let Nat freak you out," came Sam's voice from the earpiece. "I've got eyes on you. By the way, head right towards the next street chart and check out the man in the red baseball cap."

Georgiana shifted through the crowds, not heading towards the food chart by circling around it so that she could look at the man whose face was hidden under the red baseball cap.

"That's not one of them," said Georgiana, looking at a man who very clearly was not one of the Spring Children they were expecting to find today.

She still felt silly talking to people she couldn't see. The new earpieces made it so that everything anyone said could be heard by everyone, which was nice in that she didn't have to bring her hand up to her ear every time she wanted to talk, but it was odd knowing that everyone was listening to everyone else.

She glanced behind her shoulder and took notes of everyone's faces, then turned around to scan the top of the high rise buildings. Sam had been on the top to the one of her left, but she had a feeling he had moved positions by now.

"Can we circle back to the fact that Natasha enjoys _Game of Thrones_?" came Tony's voice. "Can I watch it with you? Maybe this is how we bond."

"No. And it's not," said Natasha, but it sounded like she was smirking.

The sun was hot, and Georgiana wished she could take off the jacket Tony had made for her. Even though the material was created to breathe, she could help but feel odd being the only one in the crowd not in a t-shirt or a tank top.

"Stop tugging at your jacket," Sam said, obviously watching her from somewhere. "It's better that you're covered than healing millions of people as they bump into you."

Georgiana glared upward, hoping Sam, wherever he was, saw it. She heard him chuckle from the earpiece.

"What's wrong with the jacket?" came Tony's voice. "Do we need to modify the weight? Make it waterproof?"

"It's perfect Tony," Georgiana said, strolling back through the crowd pretending to look at some of the carts that had been set up as she continued studying all of the faces in the crowd.

"Don't get distracted guys," Steve said. "Wanda and I are near the end of the parade. The first float is just making its way towards us."

"Georgy and I are near the beginning," said Sam. "T'Challa's float should be coming soon."

"I have eye's on the mayor's float," said Natasha. "That would be the most obvious target."

"There is a non-profit organization handing out flyers by the bank," said Wanda. "I'm going to move closer to them."

"Good idea," said Steve.

"Work. Work. Work," Tony sighed. "Oh hey! It's Rhodey, leading the marching military men. Is that a scratch on his suit? Unbelievable. You think he would take better care of it."

"If things go south Rhodey is in his suit and can join us, but T'Challa isn't," said Steve. "He'll want to join, but I don't want him facing off with these Spring Children unarmed. Georgiana, make sure you keep him out of trouble."

"They might not even be here," said Wanda. "I'm switching channels to check in with B Group."

B Group consisted of Vision, Peter, Scott, Sharon, and Bucky. They had a different channel on the earpiece so that there wasn't a distracting amount of chatter. B Group was staying further away from the parade and the heart of the city, instead creating an outer ring around the heart of New York City.

"So, are you a fan of the Starks or the Lannisters?" asked Tony. "Greyjoys? No, wait, are you team White Walkers? They are very zombie like, I can see why you would relate to them."

"I'm guessing you're a Starks fan yourself," said Natasha, sounding bored.

"How did you know?" said Tony. It was almost possible to hear the grin on his face.

"They're here!" said Natasha. "Incoming at the mayor's float."

Moments later, the crowd started to scream, nearly covering the sound of Natasha's breathing over the earpiece as she engaged someone.

"Heading your way," said Tony.

"It looks like it's 005 and 001," said Sam.

The crowd around Georgiana was in a panic. She felt like a fish trying to swim upstream. Someone knocked her to the ground as they clipped her shoulder, trying to run past her. The Spring Children had done something to make these people resort to panic quickly. The men in the military line up were trying to herd the people away safely, likely acting under Rhodey's orders. She saw Rhodey take to the sky. Sam, wings out, was quick behind him.

Georgiana stopped trying to go in the opposite direction as the crowd. 005 had been the strongest of the bunch the last time she had actually seen any of the Spring Children. If they were once again doing what The Departed wanted them to be doing, it was doubtful they would even recognize her. Trying to help fight them might end up backfiring.

"Wanda! Make sure this building doesn't come down unless all the civilians are out," said Steve. He sounded out of breath. He had joined in on the fight too.

They were all fighting 005 and 001, Georgiana realized.

"On it." Wanda.

Screams became louder as a loud moaning sound echoed from a few streets away. That, then, must be the crumbling building.

Georgiana whipped around to look at the end of the parade line. People at the end of the line where just realizing that something was wrong, and where abandoning the floats. One of the last floats was T'Challa's. She could only just make it out now, his country's flag waving in the air. He was in the parade to show his regained loyalty to the Accords. Something The Departed wouldn't want.

"It's a distraction," Georgiana said, and she started to run towards T'Challa's float. There were people still on his float, too busy helping nearby civilians off the ground as they tripped in their hurry to get away. If anyone heard what she said, they were too busy fighting to respond.

Georgiana raced through the crowd, yelling at people to get out of the way. That is when she saw it. The float had been stopped in the middle of the road beside a sewer vent, and purple mist was starting to ooze out of it. The purple drug. Thamah.

"Get out of the way!" Georgiana yelled to the crowd as she ran.

The last remaining person on the float must have been T'Challa himself. Tall with midnight skin, he looked at her as she charged towards him. Confusion, and then realization, covered on his face.

The sewer vent exploded.

"No!"

Georgiana's hands shot forward. For a moment everything seemed to slow down as a heavy pressure built up around her hands and then traveled down her arms. People around her moved momentary more slowly. The texture of the pressure changed, and Georgiana recognized the feeling of a plastic bag full of air moving and changing around her skin, just like Thor's book had felt like. White, misting clouds where building around her arms.

Time returned to normal, and crowds of people dressed in red, white, and blue, were now screeching and running back the way they came, away from the explosion.

The erupting sewer vent had erupted in a great mass of purple fire. A white, almost perfectly clear and see through bubble had formed itself around the explosion, containing the purple fire within. It wasn't until Georgiana felt her nose bleeding that she realized she was sending all of the energy around her arms forward, towards the explosion.

She had created a force-shield.

The only problem was she couldn't hold it. Thor had said she could only create them to stop injuries from happening, and with the explosion contained, she could feel the force-shield weakening. Her arms started to shake as she tried to keep the force-shield going. She needed a place to put it, so that when it exploded it wouldn't hurt anyone. For a moment, the only thing she could think of was to send it into the air and hope it made it high enough that when the force-shield did explode it wouldn't take out any of the tall buildings. But that was a long way up.

Then she noticed the single figure running up the now deserted street, heading towards T'Challa. It was 004, and he was looking taller and meaner than ever with purple veins running all over his body.

There was no time to really think things through. Georgiana moved her hands as if she was touching the side of the force-shield, even though the shield itself was a few feet away. Then she pushed hard, sending the force-shield, and the explosion it carried inside, flying towards 004. It collided with him just as the force-shield dropped, and the purple flames were set loose.

The wind created by the explosion flung Georgiana just high enough off the ground that when she landed she misplaced her footing and fell. She could already see 004 still standing, covering his head in the smoke left by the explosion as she got back up onto her feet. His skin was blacken and burnt.

Arms still covered in their own force-shields, Georgiana charged towards the Spring Child. She could feel Natasha's training click into place as she ran at him.

As soon as she was near him, 004 swung at her. She ducked under his arm and went to grab the back of his elbow as she came back up, but with the force-shields around her arms, she found she could fight him as if it was hand-to-hand combat without actually touching him. 005 swung another arm, she pushed it away, he punched at her, and she blocked it without actually having to touch him, and then she planted her feet on the ground as if she was going to punch him like she was in a boxing arena. Using her entire body weight, she pushed the palm of her hand and slammed it towards his chest.

The force-shield around that arm left her and smacked into him, sending 004 flying backwards.

The energy drained out of her arms, for a moment she felt dizzy and once again realized the effect force-shields had on her body to create. Her nose was still bleeding. 004 was already charging at her again.

She managed to dodge the first punch and kick, but then found herself held up in the air by her neck. Georgiana tried to break free by swinging her arm up and then down onto his elbow, a technique that would have caused most people to drop her. Her vision started to darken as her legs kicked. Knowing she could run out of time fast, she hooked one of her legs into 004's belt and used it as leverage to get up high enough to swing her other leg around his neck. The force of the move made them both go flying.

004 landed hard a few feet away from her. Because of Natasha's training, Georgiana landed on her feet. But because of the energy lost from creating force-shields, she found herself falling onto the ground. The Spring Child was already back up and charging at her, looking angry.

The man with the midnight skin, T'Challa, was suddenly there. As the two started their own hand-to-hand combat, Georgiana tried to will more energy to come to her. Even if it was just enough to continue fighting, let alone create more force-shields.

Suddenly 004 was on top of her, having gotten rid of T'Challa. He pushed her onto her back and she took two hits before she was able to lift her butt and legs off the ground and wrap her legs around 004's thick neck. Hooking her ankles at his throat, she rocked her body forward, forcing her legs down. Shock spread onto his face as 004 was yanked backwards.

Entwined, they swung until he landed on his back, legs spread around Georgiana's waist. Sitting upright with her ankles still around his throat, she slammed her fists into his groin.

Unlike any normal person, he did not curl up in a ball of pain.

Instead, he rolled Georgiana to the side until he is once again on top of her and hit her. She felt a lower rib snap.

"It's me!" Georgiana tried as he hit her again. Her body wanted to curl up into a ball, but his weight on top of her forced her to be still. "Don't you remember me?"

No sign of recognition appeared on his purple veined face, not even when she wrapped her bare hands around his arm to make skin to skin contact and see if there was anything she could heal.

004 was ripped off of her as once again T'Challa attacked. With 004's weight off of her, Georgiana's body momentary curled into a ball. She forced herself to stand onto her feet, one of her hands clutching at her broken rib.

She could tell 004 had made her his main target, likely because of the explosion she had thrown at his face, because he tossed T'Challa away and came at her again. 004 lifted her again up into the air, this time by his hand fisting around her jacket, and then he kicked her hard.

Georgiana went flying into the air. She tried to scream as suddenly both 004 and T'Challa became smaller and smaller as she rocketed upward, but between the force of the hit to the stomach and the wind whipping around her, no sound came.

She was stories high before she stopped going up and started going down.

Something collided with her back as she fell and Georgiana found herself suspended in the air between two tall buildings, the streets looking small below. Her hands shot upward to grab a hold of the small hovering red machine. The red machine had created two hooks that had grabbed her under her armpits so that she dangled in the air. Her head cleared, she could feel herself healing already, and she remembered Sam showing her this machine once before at the cabin. He had called it Redwing.

Suspended in the air by Redwing, Georgiana watched as T'Challa and 004 continue to fight. Despite not being in his suit, as Steve had said, T'Challa was fast, smooth, and seemed to strike hard. 004 actually seemed to be struggling to fight with him. Sam added himself into their fight by flying straight into 004. Rhodey also appeared in the fight below, his metal suit slightly smoking.

Georgiana lurched downward, away from Redwing, as her jacket started to rip and her armpits were no longer completely on Redwing's hooks.

"Sam," she said, more as a reaction than to actually get his attention. She realized again how far up she was. If she fell, it didn't matter that her body could heal itself, there won't be anything left for it to heal. Her jacket ripped again as she tried to reached behind the back of her head to grab a hold of Redwing.

"Sam!" She cried out, and then her jacket ripped and she fell. She closed her eyes as wind whipped around her. Her arms reached out wide and went in a circling motion, trying to keep her head above her legs as she fell.

Something hard collided against her and smacked all remaining air out of her lungs. Eyes still squeezed shut, Georgiana flung her arms around Sam's neck, and refused to open them until she felt him land on the top of one of the multistoried buildings. Georgiana let him place her feet onto the building, but kept a hold of his neck. In return, Sam continued to hold on to her until she relaxed.

When they pulled away from each other, she could hear everyone talking through the earpiece. The Spring Children had been pinned down and were in the process of being contained. The fight was over.

Georgiana took the earpiece out and tossed it, feeling better with both ears open again. Together, she and Sam sat down on the flat cement roof of the building. It took her a moment before she noticed she had healed him when he had caught her falling. Every inch of her felt bruised, but at the same time her broken rib was already feeling better.

Sam also tossed his earpiece to the side.

"I thought you were told recon only," he said, still breathless.

"I was also told to keep T'Challa out of trouble," Georgiana reminded him, wincing because it hurt her lungs to talk.

Sam chuckled. "Yeah, you failed at that too."

For a moment, Georgiana expected herself to feel bad that she really had failed at both points. Instead, she found herself laughing.

Sam helped her into the building and then the elevator, keeping his arm under her to take some of her weight even once they exited the building and headed towards the street.

T'Challa was heading straight for them, looking beaten up with a torn shirt.

"Not this kitty," Sam said, so quietly Georgiana doubted she was supposed to hear it.

T'Challa stopped in front of them.

"It is very likely that you saved my life today," T'Challa said. Focused still on her currently damaged body and how it was healing, it took Georgiana a moment to realize he was talking to her.

The dizziness passed through her again. Through the growing sensation of sickness that Georgiana assumed was a side-effect of creating force-shields, she could barely concentrate long enough of note T'Challa's rich voice.

"I also helped," Sam said dryly.

"I was referring to the explosion she stopped," said T'Challa, voice cold.

A woman Georgiana had seen on T'Challa's float came to stand beside them. She was tall, also had midnight skin, and was bald. Overall, she reminded Georgiana of a Greek Goddess or a lion. Georgiana wasn't sure which of the two fit the lady better.

Distantly, as the feeling of sickness became stronger and stronger, she heard T'Challa introducing the woman as his security chief.

Georgiana turned away from Sam and threw up the contents of her stomach all over the woman's high heels.

"Sorry," Georgiana tried to tell her, but instead threw up again.

The women stood there, frozen in shock and anger. If she wasn't so exhausted and sick and in pain, Georgiana might have been worried this woman was going to attack her.

"I like her." said T'Challa.

Sam shrugged. "She's alright."

Normally, Georgiana would have elbowed him in the ribs for his smart comments, but that would currently take more energy than she had.

Tony, in his Iron Man suit, landed beside T'Challa and took off the part of the suit that covered his face. He took one look at where Georgiana had thrown up all over the woman's feet, and grinned.

"Not bad for a first mission," said Tony. "Welcome to the team."


	18. Chapter 18

_Hey guys! Thats for all the support, you make my day!_

 _So this chapter focuses on a subplot that has been building instead of Bucky. But never fear! Bucky is all over the next chapter!_

 _(also, there is a little reference to Firefly, and who ever finds it_ _awesome.)_

 **Chapter Eighteen**

Georgiana's vision started to blur in and out of focus as she dry heaved. T'Challa's chief of security angrily kicked her shoes off and stepped away from her. Had Sam not still been standing beside her, rubbing her back awkwardly, Georgiana would have been worried that the woman might punch her. And she was in no physical condition for another fight.

She was actually a little thankful that she was too tired to care that the first time she was meeting an actual King was as she was spilling her guts out.

"What's wrong with her?" Tony stepped forward.

"I think it is a side effect of her powers," T'Challa's velvet voice was something Georgiana thought would make most girls melt. "Her nose started bleeding the moment she stopped the explosion."

At least she saved the King's life before she threw up on his people.

"Should we get her to a hospital?" asked Tony.

"I don't know," Sam was still patting her back as Georgiana's stomach continued to be angry with her. "We never have before. She usually just sleeps it off."

Her body finally seemed to give up on the idea of making her a complete embarrassment. Catching her breath, Georgiana sat down on the sidewalk. She wished she had water.

"Sorry about that," she tried to croak out to the chief of security.

The Lion-Greek-Goddess woman did not seem to forgive her.

Tony knelt down and took her chin, turning her head to the right and the left as if he was a doctor. He blurred in and out of focus.

Then, Georgiana said something she couldn't remember ever saying before.

"I don't feel good."

She had never bothered to state that outload before, at least, not that she could recall at the moment. Usually she was too busy self-healing or trying to be tough so that she could keep up with these superheroes around her.

Tony's eyes widened. His suit once again covered his face, and he picked Georgiana up carefully in his arms, as if cradling her.

"I'm taking her to the hospital." Tony readjusted her in his arms. "Once Captain Tight Pants and the others have those Spring Children completely contained, have them . . ."

Tony's voice continued talking, but it slurred together as Georgiana closed her eyes and let the lights turn off.

 **X-X-X**

Despite the likelihood that she had never been in one, when Georgiana woke up she knew immediately that she was in a hospital. The walls were painted so that the lower half was an off color purple and the upper half was an odd white. There was a much deeper color purple chair, a flimsy looking table by the bed, and a window bench. There was a small television mounted in a corner, and it was quietly playing the news. The bed itself was uncomfortable and cramped. Although the cramped aspect might have been because Natasha was lying on the bed with her, watching the news.

Georgiana had gotten used to the team taking it upon themselves to take shifts watching her whenever she healed. What she hadn't been expecting was to have Natasha crowding her hospital bed instead of spreading out on the comfier looking window bench.

She was extremely tried, but nothing seemed to hurt anymore. Georgiana doubted the hospital had actually done anything, because currently she wasn't even connected to an IV.

"How long was I out this time?"

Natasha shrugged, not at all surprised that Georgiana had woken up. "Just a few hours. Everyone else is meeting up with Everett Ross, and some other people, to put finishing touches on the new Accords."

The door to her hospital room was open, and there were two people standing in the hallway outside, looking bored as they focused down at their phone.

"Who are they?" Georgiana asked.

"The dark skinned man is one of T'Challa's security men," said Natasha. "The other is one of Tony's security men."

Georgiana closed her eyes, too tired to keep them open.

"So, now that you are officially part of the team, we need to get you a real identity so that they can put it on the Accords when you sign," said Natasha. "I figured you wanted to stay Georgiana instead of return to Sue."

"Thanks."

"But maybe Sue can be your middle name?"

"Sure."

"What do you want as your last name?" asked Natasha. "Something common might be good, like Smith. Or I'm sure you could ask anyone on the team to use their last name."

Georgiana hummed, too tired to think of secrete identities. She hadn't needed a last name so far; did she really need one now?

"Want to know what the news reporters have named you?" asked Natasha.

"Oh no," said Georgiana, still too tired to open her eyes. "I have some stupid name, don't I? Because I didn't loudly announce myself while I was fighting the a crazy person. What do they call me? Corn Bob?"

That made Natasha laugh. "Why is it the first thing your mind went to was a vegetable combined with a generic name?"

Georgiana finally opened her eyes again to study the news reporters on the television. They were showing unclear, unsteady footage of Georgiana creating a force-shield and throwing it at the Spring Child. She should have known there would be stupid teenagers filming the fight on their phones instead of running for their lives.

"The Reviver."

Georgiana blinked. "What?"

"That's is what all the news channels are calling you. The Reviver. Reviver for short."

"Oh," said Georgiana. "That's not so bad."

Natasha shrugged in a way that showed she agreed. She looked tired, and less closed off than she usually did. Georgiana had gotten good at knowing the subtle expressions on Natasha as they had trained for weeks, spending all of their time together. If Georgiana was ever going to get something personal out of Natasha, this might be her only chance.

"So what happened?" Georgiana asked.

Natasha's lips tug down. "At the parade? You don't remember?"

"I mean, what happened between you and Bruce?" Georgiana bit her lip. "If it's too personal, you don't have to tell me. There just seems to be something going on, between the two of you. And between you and Steve."

"Steve is with Sharon. They make a good pair." The way Natasha said it sounded as if she had said it a million times before.

"But so would the two of you." Georgiana said, and shifted so that she was on her side facing Natasha, curled up close in the tight bed. Georgiana wondered if this is what having a sister might feel like.

Natasha lied on her back and put her arms under her head.

There was a long moment where Natasha said nothing, and Georgiana glanced back towards the television, thinking the conversation was over. The news was still quietly going in the background, showing pictures of the parade both before and after the attacks happened.

"You have to depend on yourself when you have no one, and I depended on myself to control Bruce because he terrified me when we met." Natasha stared at the ceiling. "I had no one, until I had Clint. And then after Clint, there was the whole team. I had never had that support before. Never been a part of a group. At least, not one I was proud of."

There was a blankness on Natasha face, as if she was trying to remain closed off even while she spoke about something personal. Maybe the feelings on the inside feel less real if the outside doesn't show them.

"So it kind of killed me, what happened with Bruce, because I knew what I was doing the entire time." Natasha continued. "When I met him, he frightened me. But we needed him. The team needed him. And I was the one who knew how to manipulate people. How to flirt with them so that they believe me, and then I get what I want. I spent so much time pretending to have feelings for Bruce - so that I could keep him with the Avengers and so that I could get close enough to him to trigger the Hulk, and then close to him again to calm the Hulk down – that for a moment I thought I might actually have genuine feelings for him. I still don't know if I did, do, or not. Because I have never had a team I cared about before, so I had never experienced what it was like to manipulate a team member the way I manipulated Bruce. And when Bruce left the team, it was because of what I had done. It was on me."

Her eyes wander briefly around the white ceiling, as if she was seeing memories flash past, then they settled to stare blankly at a new spot.

"Steve would have never let me manipulate Bruce, a team member, the way I did. Luckily, I made sure to flirt with Bruce in a way where the rest of the team would think I was being honest. Maybe I was being a little honest, I don't know." Natasha sighed. "But it must not have been completely genuine, because Clint knew there was nothing. I was thankful that Clint could tell I was manipulating Bruce, because Clint would never say anything to someone else, and he would be there to remind me that my feelings for Bruce were based off the need to control the Hulk."

A hint of determination grew onto Natasha's profile.

"But I will never act on any feelings towards someone on my team again. I care about being on a team too much to risk romantic feelings get in the way." Natasha's voice was stern and calm. "Love is for children. I'll be happy just to know that someone has my back, and that I have someone else's back. That's more than I ever thought I'd have."

They lapsed into silence, watching the television. Once the news started showing Georgiana actually fighting with the Spring Child, Natasha started correcting Georgiana's fighting technique and describing what she did wrong, apparently happy to have something else to talk about. Georgiana closed her eyes and tried to get more sleep as Natasha pointed out her awful habit of letting her opponent strike first.

Eventually, Steve came into the room, still in his suit and looking tired. He motioned for Natasha to sit beside him on the window bench, and she jumped off the bed to peer at the paperwork in his hands.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked, as Natasha pulled the paperwork into her lap.

"Better," said Georgiana. "Just tired. I didn't know force-shields would take so much out of me."

Steve nodded. He gave her a warm look. "Well, you did good. Bucky was so livid that you did anything other than recon that he now refuses to be in the same room as me, but I think you made the right call by stepping in."

Suddenly Georgiana felt completely better. She had been a little worried that Steve wouldn't let her on another mission because she had failed to do the only two things Steve had asked of her.

"Where is Bucky, anyway?" Georgiana asked, trying to sound as if she didn't care about the answer as much as she did.

A knowing smile grew on both Steve's and Natasha's face, so that they both looked like they knew a secret.

"Barnes is with Clint," said Natasha. "They are making sure you have an actual identity. I was asking you want you wanted for a last name, remember?"

The news reporter on the television finally stopped talking about Georgiana, and switched to the fight that had taken place on the opposite end of the parade. There was some very shaky footage of Wanda, red energy all around her, as she kept up the falling building and pushed one of the Spring Children back towards the fight when he tried to back away. Then it showed a video of Tony and Rhodey, in their suits, taking on the women Spring Child, who looked intimating and held up her own against the two for quite some time. Sam would fly in and out of the footage, helping both get bystanders to safety and jumping into the fights when they started to go downhill. Then the footage focused on Steve and Natasha fighting side by side with 005, the worst of the Spring Children.

The two worked together like a well-oiled machine. They intertwined without actually touching, circling around 005. When Natasha leaned back, which was rare, Steve was suddenly there to block the blow with his shield. If 005 hit Steve hard, Natasha was already there to use 005's loss of momentum and flip him onto his back.

"Looks like you trust me again Rogers," said Natasha, her eyes on the television as if she hadn't noticed how well they worked together until this footage.

Steve shot her what Georgiana had named the "I'm a proud Captain" smile.

"I trust you to save my life. Even when we were enemies you have never broken that promise." Steve placed a hand on Natasha's shoulder.

"We will never be enemies," said Natasha.

 **X-X-X**

When Natasha led her into a conference room at Stark Tower, Georgiana was still trying to get used to having both T'Challa's and Tony's security men following behind her. They hadn't let her out of their sight the entire time Georgiana, Natasha, and Steve had left the hospital. With a nod towards T'Challa, the two guards left the room. Georgiana was thankful to see her two silent shadows go, she felt guilty having people follow her around. Apparently, having the entire assemble of Avengers in one conference room was enough protection.

The conference room, like the lab, had a lot of glass. One of the walls acted as just one big window. There was a single, long table in the room, and Tony and T'Challa sat on each end.

Georgiana caught Bucky's gaze and he motioned subtly towards the empty chair beside him.

"You okay?" Bucky asked, as Georgiana sat down. His eyes kept traveling around her face, as if he was looking for clues that she hadn't completely healed yet.

"Yeah," she said. "Of course."

She hated that question. How were people expecting her to answer?

On the other side of her sat Sam, and across from her was Clint. She had a feeling the three of them had planned for her to sit here, so that they could make a protective triangle around her. Bucky, it appeared, was not the only one who was unhappy about her having to fight earlier today.

"I'm a huge fan," said Scott, leaning over the table to shake T'Challa's hand.

At the other end, Wanda and Vision were talking quietly together. Sharon sat on the other side of Sam, and Steve went to sit beside her. Natasha went to sit be Peter, who beamed the moment he saw her. He had gotten close to Natasha and Georgiana when it had just been the three of them at the cabin. Rhodey sat by Tony, and for the first time Georgiana could remember, he wasn't in his metal legs.

Georgiana bit her lip. She had never offered to heal Rhodey's legs. She could feel where his spine had been injured on her own body when she concentrated. Even though she knew she could heal him, there was something about knowing she wouldn't be able to use her legs for a while – even if she was mostly sleeping – that made her hesitant to touch him.

"Guess I'll start," said Clint, and everyone quieted down to listen to him. "001's real name is Gina Washington, 004's is Jonathan Clark, and 005 is Erik Kent. The two Spring Children who died, were Sarah Bing and Jake Bayer. All five of the Spring Children originally were a part of the U.S. military. Their families, and the military, were told they went missing in battle. Instead, The Departed took them."

"So they were picked because they knew how to fight?" asked Peter.

"Partly," said Natasha. "They were also picked because all five of them have never had more than a head cold in their enter lives. The Departed needed the healthiest people they could find so that they would live through their testing. As we now know, the drug The Departed uses doesn't come from Earth, and it causes those on it to physically grow. It also increases muscle mass and skin density."

"Washington, Clark, and Kent all seem to be going through withdraws from the drug already," said Rhodey. "We're hoping once it is out of their system that they will return to their original state of mind. Best case scenario is that they are released back to their families as soon as The Departed are taken care of and no longer pose a threat to recapture them."

Clint sighed. "As for The Departed themselves. We know they somehow got their hands on an alien drug. That they still have a giant purple monster. And we are guessing that they are American."

"Why American?" asked Wanda.

"They only took American soldiers," said Sharon. "And their leader, McCaffrey, is American. He has been running gangs from Main to New York since he was a teenager. Apparently The Departed was his next big step."

"His family, and the families of everyone who currently works for him, were killed when the intentionally by the Hulk. Which is why they are trying to create a monster as big as the Hulk, to kill him," said Natasha. "It also explains why they did nothing to us, excluding Bucky and Georgiana, when we were briefly captured. The name itself, The Departed, is suppose to be named after all the victims who have died because of the Hulk."

Tony groaned at the end of the table, rubbing his temples. "It's always the same story."

"Wait," said Georgiana. "They had Bruce in the Hulk form for days, and all they did was drug him. They never tried to kill him."

"They knew they couldn't," said Tony. "The Hulk can't just be killed by a gun or a bomb or a drug."

"If their main target is the Hulk why bother with the Spring Children and capturing Bucky and Georgiana?" asked Peter.

"They needed to study Bucky so that they could replicate the brain washing on the Spring Children, and they needed Georgiana to heal to Children so that they could be trained as quickly as possible," said Clint. "They were planning to give Bucky over to whoever could control the Winter Soldier once they had all the information they needed."

"As for the Spring Children," Sharon cut in, "we are assuming they needed to know they could control people before they started controlling their purple giant."

Peter, who was sitting in his chair so that he looked like he was in a knot, drummed his fingers on his chin. "Okay, if that's all they want why would they attack at the parade today? Why would they care about the Accords?"

"Because we didn't agree about the Accords until these amendments," said Steve. "We were split up and weaker that way. With us back together again, McCaffrey knows we are working together to stop him."

"I guess no one has bothered to tell this guy that Bruce is no longer on Earth?" said Sam.

Natasha shook her head. "Apparently not. So it's likely he will attack a major city with his purple monster to try and draw the Hulk out."

"No." said Tony. "We're going to find him first."


	19. Chapter 19

_Thank you everyone for reading this and I hope you enjoy! Your comments/reviews/support mean a lot!_

 _(also, there is texting in this chapter, and I didn't know how to make it look like a text so I just italicized it instead)_

 **Chapter Nineteen:**

When the meeting was over everyone divided up rather quickly. Bucky seemed to hover around her as Georgiana talked to some of the people in the room. Georgiana had a feeling that he was angry that she had done anything other than recon today, and was taking it upon himself to act as a bodyguard. She hugged Clint, shook hands and officially met T'Challa, who seemed to find her amusing, and talked to Peter. Bucky ended up pulling her out of the room before Peter could finish suggesting that they try training together to see if she could get more control over her force-shields.

"You're not coming?" Georgiana asked Sharon and Steve, as they hesitated outside the aircraft that was on top of Stark Tower.

"Naw," said Steve. "Sharon and I have some last minute work to do on the Accords, so I'm not returning to the cabin. I'm also a little sick of sleeping on the pull out bed."

Steve shot Bucky a stern look. "I suggest you two just keep low at the cabin until the Accords are ready to sign."

Meaning, in other words, that they were both on lock down orders.

Bucky flew the plane back to the cabin, instructing Georgiana how to be the co-pilot. It came very easily to her, as if her brain was trying very hard to remember how to be a stunt pilot.

When they arrived back at the cabin, Georgiana quickly unbuckled to get out of her chair. Bucky placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back into her seat.

"Hold on," he said, and took a small envelope out of his jacket pocket. "This is yours. Sharon had it finalized before we left."

Georgiana's fingers skimmed over soft envelope, about to open it when Bucky cleared his throat. He suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

"What's up?" Georgiana asked, placing the envelope aside.

"I just-I don't think you should sign the Accords," said Bucky. "They held you captive, Doll. They made you heal people to the point where you permanently lost your memories." He squirmed in his seat. "It doesn't seem smart."

Georgiana tucked her legs up and shifted so that she sat sideways in her seat, facing him. She was sensing a double standard. "But you're going to sign them, and they wanted to kill you before."

"I know. But you're different."

That stung, and Georgiana considered the double standard confirmed. Different sounded a lot like not good enough.

"How am I different?"

Bucky ran a hand through his hair, and he mumbled, "You can still choose to leave."

Leave. Georgiana repeated the word in her head. She fought back the urge to ask him if he wanted her to leave when he started to fidget and avoid eye contact.

"And you can't?" she asked.

Bucky snorted. "Of course not. I'm stuck here. I tried to disappear, I tried to leave and start over. But it will never work for me. Not with, not with the way I am. Even without the trigger words, I'm still the Winter Soldier. That name still has meaning." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "And there is Steve. I can't just leave him again. The best I can hope for is to help enough people that I can clean my ledger out a little."

Again, Georgiana fought the urge to turn the conversation away from the what he was trying to say and instead bring up the fact that it sounded as if he was suggesting he had no problem with her leaving, and him staying. She had thought they were closer than that. Georgiana folded her hands together and started to wring them in her lap.

"Now you sound like Natasha," she said, quietly.

Bucky shrugged as he stared out the glass in the aircraft. "Yeah, well, Natasha and I have that in common."

Georgiana could hear Natasha's voice now. Love is for children. That is what Natasha had said to her earlier. That had been what Natasha had said during one of the only completely honest moments Georgiana had ever seen in her friend. Maybe Natasha and Bucky had that belief in common, too.

Biting her lip, Georgiana shifted in her seat again, so that she was no longer completely facing Bucky. She felt ridiculous. Like some crushing teenager who should be focusing on getting into college or something instead of a boy.

"Look," said Bucky, who finally seemed to notice she was acting a little off. "All I'm saying is that you don't remember having a life that wasn't surrounded by the Accords and the Avengers. How can you know that this is what you want to do when you don't know anything else?"

A little trust would be a good start.

"Just because I don't remember who I was, doesn't mean I don't know who I am now." Georgiana said. Her voice had a harsher tone than it usually carried. "I know exactly what I'm doing. I am, for the first time, in control of my actions instead of letting someone else take over. I can help people. If you think I want to be an Avenger because I think it would be cool, or because I don't know any better, then you must think I'm really naive." An image of a faceless man kidnapping a small white haired girl with pigtails appeared in the back of her mind. "All I want is the chance to be the person a younger me needed."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bucky shift so that he was now the one facing her.

"I just think it's stupid to sign a contract with people who stuffed you in a room and called you a tool." Bucky's voice also held a sharpness to it that it usually didn't have. "You signing for them is you becoming exactly what they wanted you to be."

A hot, swelling feeling seemed to be coursing through Georgiana, so that it felt as if her insides were in motion even though her body was still. Only Bucky seemed to be able to make her angry.

"You're signing for them." She reminded him. "And everyone has been working on making amendments to the Accords. They are making it so that we have equal say as the board about the missions we take. I'm still going to read every sentence of the document before I sign it. These aren't going to be the same Accords as the one that caused the mess before."

Bucky's hand reached out to touch her knee.

"I'm just trying to keep you safe."

"I never asked you to do that." Georgiana shifted away from his touch. "Have I still not proven that I can at least take care of myself?"

The moment she had flinched away from him, she could tell Bucky was finally as angry as she was. Good. Let him be.

"Sam saved your life today."

That felt like being hit by stones. His eyes were just as hard looking as his tone.

"And I saved T'Challa's life. That's what teammates do. I know I'm not a fighter, I'm still learning, but all things considered I think I held my own."

Bucky shook his head. "You're putting a lot of faith into the teachings of an assassin."

A single, hard, bark of a laugh escaped Georgiana. "It may not have been your choice, but you were once an assassin too." At least Natasha was honest about it.

She bit back that last thought, but it hung in the air. Now it was Bucky's turn to look like he had been hit with stones. His jaw tensed to the point where muscles in his cheeks flexed. With one last hard look, he got out of his seat and left the plane. Georgiana watched from the window as he marched into the cabin. He didn't look back.

With a frustrated grunt, Georgiana reached for the closed envelope, hoping for a distraction. She ripped the paper open and tossed it aside as something small and square landed in her lap. It was a driver's license. Her license. It had a picture of her on it that Georgiana had never taken. Someone had photoshoped a picture taken of her by one of the team and made it look like she had gone and actually gotten a driver's license. It had her correct birthday on it. It lied and said she had been born in Colorado. Then she read her name.

Sighing, Georgiana looked up at the ceiling and slumped into her seat. She glanced at the name again.

Georgiana Barton Barnes.

There was a sticky note on the back of the license from Sharon, which read: we all thought the double Bs sounded nice.

The worst part was that it did sound nice.

Barton Barnes. Barton and Barnes. The two people she trusted most. And her new name, Georgiana, after her ability to play the piano and after the best friend she couldn't even remember, despite the fact that he had died trying to save her from becoming a tool for the Accords. George. What would he be thinking if he knew she was thinking of signing willingly. Maybe Bucky did have a point.

She had a new name, a new start. She could just leave. But not Bucky. James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier. His name had meaning. The Reviver? That name had only been around for a few hours now; it could easily disappear if she decided she did want to leave.

Her hand clamped around the driver's license to the point where it was almost painful.

These were not the same Accords. Steve would never sign them if they were. Neither would Tony, not after he had seen what they had done to her. And Clint was going to sign them, and he would have rather retired than done that before. The new Accords was a compromise. And surely, if she could see that, if she was willing to forgive and move on, maybe everyone on the team would finally be completely together for real.

Georgiana stuffed the driver's license in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She needed advice from a girl. Bucky claimed he was just being protective, but talking to a girl would be more useful. Girls are protective of their friends, and not to prove a point but to be smart. At least that was Georgiana thought of the women she knew.

She scrolled pasted Sharon without hesitation. Sharon had good morals and was nice, but she had never really believed in Georgiana. Georgiana paused at Natasha's name, then decided against it. She didn't want to picture Natasha smirking right now. When she pulled up Wanda's name, she found herself exhaling, as if she had been tense.

 _Do you think it's a bad idea for me to sign the Accords?_

She sent the text, not wanting to actually call Wanda and have her voice betray her emotions. Plus, Wanda might be in the company of someone else. Someone like Vision, who Georgiana still didn't know very well. She could already feel herself blush at him overhearing Wanda talking to her on the phone as she had a little freak out.

 _You don't have to._

Wanda texted back rather quickly.

 _But I've been rereading them as Sam, Sharon, Rhodes, and Vision help the board revise them, and I am planning on signing. I think it is a good compromise. A lot of countries will feel safer with them._

Wanda's second text came in right after the first. Georgiana felt better already.

 _Okay. Thanks. I needed another opinion._ Georgiana sent back.

Another text came from Wanda.

 _Let me guess, Barnes is being protective._

That actually made Georgiana laugh.

 _Yeah_. Georgiana replied. _He seems to be the only person who can make me angry._

This time there was a long pause before Wanda's next text appeared.

 _You know how when you have a crush on someone to the point where you adore everything they do? Even the stupid stuff? And then you realize that you like them so much you become frustrated at yourself and suddenly every single thing they do annoys you. Because it's annoying that you don't find them annoying. That, sounds a lot like this._

Georgiana groaned out loud. She could almost see Wanda's small smile.

A _re you talking from past experience or current conditions?_ Georgiana sent back.

Wanda's reply read: _Hahahaha. Both._

Georgiana slipped her phone back into her pocket and climbed out of her seat. Slowly, she locked up the barn and headed towards the cabin. Inside, the cabin was dark and quiet. The door to the green bedroom was closed. Georgiana went into her own room and changed into sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt, then tiptoed into the kitchen, assuming that Bucky was asleep in his room.

There was left over salad in the fridge, and she pulled it out. Absentmindedly, she began poking through it with a large spoon and picking out all the tomatoes among the other vegetables and placing them in a separate bowl.

"What are you doing?"

Bucky had crept into the room and was leaning on the corner of the wall, his arms crossed. He had also changed into sweatpants and a tank top, so that his entire metal arm was showing. Georgiana always found herself staring at it when he was relaxed enough to show it, she often forgot it was even there. It was oddly beautiful.

"Taking the tomatoes out." Georgiana shrugged. "You don't like them."

"I never said that."

Georgiana returned to her task, letting her back face him. "You wrinkled up your nose at the grocery store when you saw them last time we went."

Two large arms, one warm and the other metal and cold, carefully wrapped around her center. When she didn't pull away the arms tightened around her and Bucky pressed his chest into her back. His forehead nuzzled into her shoulder and Georgiana could feel his hot breath travel down her back. His hair tickled her neck.

"I met you at your worst, I know you can handle yourself," he mumbled into her t-shirt. "I just don't want you to have to."

Georgiana allowed herself to lean into his embrace, her own arms on top of his. A warm feeling from her chest started to grow down to her toes.

"I understand you not wanting me to sign the Accords," she said. "I just think I'd be good at this. At helping people and being a part of your team."

Bucky nodded into her shoulder.

"And I don't want to leave. I enjoy being around you guys." Georgiana felt her face turn red, and she started to stammer. "I enjoy being around you."

Bucky lifted his head up just enough to place a kiss on the side of her neck before starting a trail of kisses up to the spot behind Georgiana's ear that made her melt. She turned in his arms and looped her hands around his neck, pressing her lips to his. His tongue swept over her bottom lip and she pressed up on her toes as he deepened the kiss.

A shock seemed to travel through the nerves in her body, and she shivered as he ran his metal hand gently down her spine.

Bucky, obviously thinking her shiver had been caused by the cool touch of his metal hand, and not the fact that it felt nice, started to pull away. A little whimper escaped Georgiana at the loss of contact, and usually the sound would have mortified her, but she was too focused at regaining his attention. She gripped two handfuls of his tank top and pulled him back towards her, trying to press her lips back into his. He was so tall compared to her, however, that she missed and hit his chin instead.

Now chuckling, Bucky kissed her once more before resting his forehead on hers. His hands traveled lightly down her sides, momentary tickling her and making her laugh, before they continued down. His hands ran all the way down to the back of her thighs, and a small gasp of surprise left Georgiana as he picked her up and placed her on the kitchen counter. It was easier for her to kiss him here, and she pulled gently on his bottom lip as they kissed until he started focusing on her again.

He groaned, and his hands ran back up her thighs to carefully dig into her hips. He pulled her towards him so that she was just barely sitting on the edge of the counter, her legs on either side of him as he pressed himself against her. Georgiana ran a hand up under his tank top and across his hard abs. She gently pushed on his chest and he leaned away just long enough for her to pull his tank top off before she pressed her chest back into his and returned to kissing him.

Her skin felt as if it was on fire. Her thighs tighten around the side of his hips to pull his pelvis closer to hers. Bucky's hands dug into her hips and shifted them so that they were slightly angled up, causing another burst of warmth at the contact. Georgiana's hands ran up over his abs, arms, neck, and into his soft hair. Bucky's warm hand hesitated at the hemline of her shirt, and she gave an encouraging giggle and tried to find a way to lean her chest in harder towards his. Bucky took the hint and ran his hand up under her shirt to rest on her lower ribs, his thumb right below the wire of her bra.

"Bucky," Georgiana said between kisses. "I thought I was the shy one."

He smiled against her mouth, and his hand seemed to inched closer to her chest. Bucky groaned again.

"You are," Bucky said, and his hand ran once up and down the valley between her breasts, causing a tingling sensation.

Bucky started another trail of kisses down her neck to suck on the hollow part of her shoulder as he tugged Georgiana's shirt up and off, where it fell onto the floor, leaving her in her bra.

"You're so beautiful," he muttered into her skin. "From the moment I saw-"

Georgiana placed both hands on his chest and pushed him back. An idea was forming in her currently clouded mind. Bucky sensed the change in atmosphere, and his hands dropped to rest almost hesitantly on her hips. He looked suddenly scared, and Georgiana realized he thought this might be her rejecting him. Georgiana ran her hands up his bare arms to rest them touching the sides of his neck, and he relaxed.

"That first base, The Departed base where we met, has anyone been there since the first time the group checked it out?" Georgiana asked.

Bucky frowned. "You mean after we checked it when the village in Scotland was attacked?"

Georgiana nodded.

"No," Bucky said. "We haven't. Why? Do you really think they would return to a base they know we know about?"

"How many other places can McCaffrey really keep something as large as the Hulk?"

Bucky shook his head, looking amused as he carefully set her back onto the floor and picked up both of their shirts.

"So you're saying we should check it out again?" Bucky said, slipping his tank top back on.

Georgiana tugged her t-shirt back over her head. "Yes. Even if it is still empty, they might be forced to return to it later. I doubt The Departed have a ton of places that can keep a giant contained in a cage."

Bucky groaned. Not the same type of groan that had slipped out as he kissed her, but a tired one. He looked up at the ceiling as one of his hands gently pulled her hair free from where it had been caught under her shirt.

"What are you really suggesting?"

Smiling, Georgiana reached up on her toes and kissed his chin. "I think we should set a trap."

Bucky sighed. "I hate this idea."


	20. Chapter 20

_I know my updates have slowed down, and I'm sorry about that. My life just got busy again, so updates are going to be a little slow for a while. But it is good to be busy! I am not complaining! Don't worry though, I have everything outlined, so updates will always come!_

 _Thanks again for the lovely support. You are all the best and make my day. I love to hear everything you guys say._

 **Chapter Twenty**

"I love this idea."

Tony marched around the lab table so that he stood closer to Georgiana and offered her a piece of his chocolate bar. Georgiana had never seen Tony looking so comfortable before. He was dressed in a hoodie that looked to be covered in grease and sweatpants that were just as dirty. For the first time, he also seemed to be less on edge around Bucky.

"I don't know why I didn't think of this," Tony continued.

Georgiana took the piece of chocolate as Tony started pacing around the lab. It was a different, smaller lab than the other one she had been in, but it was still mostly made of glass. The city was lit up under the dark sky, and the view from the tower was breathtaking. She glanced over at Bucky and smiled to herself. He looked very unhappy to be back at Stark Tower.

"And you," said Tony, rounding on Bucky. "You went behind the Captain's orders to stay hidden at the cabin and came to me. If I liked you, I might have been a little proud."

Tony almost made a move to offer him a piece of the chocolate bar, but then seemed to think better of it and offered it to Georgiana instead. She took it happily. It was a little fun, breaking the rules.

After the idea had appeared, Georgiana had marched out of the kitchen in the cabin and had gone straight back towards the barn and into the aircraft. Bucky had followed behind her, brooding.

"We aren't going," Bucky had said. "Steve said –"

"Unless you want to physically stop me, get in," Georgiana had replied, and Bucky had sighed and the next thing Georgiana knew she and Bucky were landing back on Stark Tower and Tony was looking very confused to see them.

"I actually have F.R.I.D.A.Y. monitoring the building," Tony said, chewing on a piece of chocolate and referring to the base where The Departed had kept Georgiana. "She'll give out an alert if anyone enters the building. No one has been there since we tore the place up, but we could set a trap and then attack the other known bases until McCaffrey and his wannabees are forced to return."

"Actually, I was thinking we could set up a more active trap," said Georgiana. She could feel Bucky trying to burn a hole into the side of her face, but she ignored him.

"I'm guessing Broody doesn't like this plan," Tony fake whispered, and nodded his head in Bucky's direction.

"He doesn't," said Georgiana. "But you will."

She repeated her plan in more detail to Tony has he led them out of the lab and into the kitchen to grab an apple now that the chocolate bar was finished.

Tony left Bucky in the kitchen to continue brooding in silence and led Georgiana to yet another lab that she had never seen before. This one was not made of glass. In fact, the only glass in the room were the glass cases on one of the walls that all held different Iron Man suits. Most of the lab was cement, and it was windowless. Heavy looking pieces of machinery filled the room.

"I've been working on this for you," Tony said, pulling something off of one of the many work tables.

He handed Georgiana a pile of folded fabric and pushed her in the direction of a small changing booth in the corner of the room. Georgiana slipped inside and pulled the curtain closed before unfolding the fabric.

"What is this?" Georgiana asked, holding it up in front of her.

"Well that's insulting." Tony's voice came from the other side of the curtain. It sounded like he had already moved to the other side of the room to tinker with something. "It's your suit, what do you think it is?"

"But it's white," Georgiana said, and put it down so that she could undress.

Tony sighed dramatically. "Astute observation. And only part of it is white."

The idea of having her own suit was slightly overwhelming.

Georgiana started to pull it on. "All I do is heal people and then bleed, isn't wearing white a bad idea?"

"Just put it on," Tony said. She imagined him rolling his eyes. "It had to have a little bit of white on it, white is kind of your thing."

The suit felt almost like a second skin. The inside felt soft against her, but the outside of the suit felt sturdy. Georgiana peeked her head around the curtain to find Tony sitting at one of his work tables, taking a screwdriver to what looked like an arm of his Iron Man suit.

"Do you have a mirror?"

Tony pointed to a corner of the room without looking up from his work, and Georgiana walked in that direction to find a three full-length mirrors that curved together, so that she could see every side of herself.

"Oh, don't forget the boots," said Tony, suddenly looking up and jogging over to her. She took the boots out of his hand and pulled them on. They matched the suit, and felt both lightweight and durable.

"Well?" asked Tony.

Georgiana studied herself in the mirrors. The suit reminded her of something Natasha would wear, yet different. With the matching boots, the suit covered her from her feet to her wrists. Even her hands were covered, a thinner material than the rest of the suit came up in a way similar to a glove. At closer observation, she realized that she had the choice to either wear the complete glove, so that she could fight people without healing them, or she could wear the material just around her palm, and have her fingers free, or the entire glove could come off.

Her suit also had a fancy collar. There was a zipper that ran down from her neck to the bottom of her ribs. The collar around the neck could fold to lie over her shoulders, or she could zip the collar all the way up so that the skin around her neck was also covered, leaving only her face open for skin to skin contact.

Tony, apparently, didn't want her to fail at killing then next person she tried to. He didn't want another McCaffrey, another person they thought was dead, but wasn't.

"It fits perfectly," said Georgiana. She caught Tony's grin in the mirror. He looked extremely pleased with himself.

Most of the suit was maroon in color. Georgiana suspected that this was because the color would be both dark enough to help hide her if she was sneaky around on a mission, and because it was the same color of blood, so that if she healed someone who was bleeding and started bleeding herself it wouldn't be as noticeable to her enemy that she was injured. Tony knew how to play a physiological game. The appearance of strength was important.

The sides of the suit were black, but there were patches or strips of white in the black, around the shoulders, the ends of her arms, and her legs.

"I love it," said Georgiana, but her voice was flat.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing." Georgiana turned away from the mirrors. "It's just, so official."

"Which is bad?"

"No! I really do love it," said Georgiana. "It's just, do you believe in fate?"

Tony sent her an exasperated look, as if trying to tell her that he didn't like this topic of conversation.

"Thor told me that I get my powers because I'm a Shaymin." Georgiana walked away from the mirrors. "That I got my powers the moment the Shaymin before me died. So does that mean it was fate for me to be born in that exact moment, or just coincidence?"

Tony took a long time to answer, different emotions played across his face for a moment before he covered them.

"I don't know anything about fate," Tony said. "You know I prefer science to the other stuff. But as a scientist I also know that it is extremely lucky that the Earth just happens to be at the exact distance away from out sun for there to be life on this planet. I think you should believe what you want to believe."

That hadn't been the answer Georgiana wanted, yet she felt better. More relaxed in her suit. Maybe the answer didn't matter. Maybe she just had to continue accepting things as they came along.

"So you like the suit?" Tony asked.

Georgiana smiled, and looked back towards the mirror. She did look official. Official was good.

"Absolutely!" She bounded happily out of the room. Tony chuckled behind her.

In the shiny elevator, Georgiana caught a blurry reflection of her suit, and frowned as something clicked into place.

"How long have you been making this?"

Tony shrugged, looking guilty. A knowing smile grew on Georgiana's face.

"You told the press my name to call me The Reviver, didn't you?" she asked him. "I didn't heal anyone in that fight, so someone had to have leaked out that name."

Tony bit the inside of his cheek and stared straight ahead at the elevator doors. "Maybe you just got lucky."

"Yeah." Georgiana rolled her eyes. "Or maybe I have a dorky friend who likes to build superhero suits when he is bored and then can't help himself and names them too."

Tony pursed his lips.

"You wouldn't happen to know anyone who has that hobby, would you?" Georgiana teased.

"Well there is Peter," said Tony. "But you wouldn't want one of his handmade suits. Those things are garbage."

The elevator opened and Tony led the way back towards the kitchen.

"Peter doesn't know the press like you do," Georgiana pointed out.

"Nobody does."

Bucky had fallen asleep sitting at the island in the kitchen, his legs dangling in his chair and his face pressed into his arms on the counter. He looked almost childlike. Georgiana and Tony paused when they entered the room.

"I used to find Steve like that sometimes," Tony told her quietly. There was something odd in his voice. "Back when he lived at the Avengers base. Unless these super soldiers are asleep it's hard to remember that they were kids when they went to war."

Georgiana tucked herself into Tony side and hugged him. He didn't hug her back, but that was okay, she had always had a feeling that Tony had not had a lot of platonic physical affection. She held on tight as Tony continued to watch Bucky sleep.

"When he apologized he cried." Tony was talking more to himself than to her, now. An image of Tony breaking all the glass in his lab as Bucky apologized created itself as Georgiana squeezed her eyes shut. She could hear Tony's calm heartbeat. "And before that, Steve asked me to look out for him if anything, well, if Steve couldn't. It's like they are both trying to make me resent myself for resenting them."

"You're allowed to be resentful." Georgiana said softly. "It was your family."

Tony gave a humorless chuckle. "I'm surprised you're on my side. Let me guess, you think being resentful is a good way to _heal_?"

That made Georgiana smile. She opened her eyes and looked back at Bucky. He looked the same as he had when she had met him, yet different. He was more open now about his hidden scars, he seemed happier, but he was still made of memories.

"There are some things even I can't heal."

She looked up just in time to see Tony roll his eyes.

"That's comforting," he said.

Pulling away from him, Georgiana shrugged. "Some injuries don't heal; we just get used to them."

"You are full of deep, humbling thoughts," Tony said, his voice sarcastic and dry, but a very small smile tugged at his lips.

They would eventually get along, Bucky and Tony. She got along with Tony, and Georgiana and Bucky were almost similar.

"He doesn't think the Spring Children will work with us to set the trap," Georgiana said.

"Only one way to find out."


	21. Chapter 21

_Hey everyone! First off, I'd like to say that I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update. I just got a new job, in a new state, so I am in the middle of moving and training and all of that, so updates will take longer now. But I do have this story outlined and updates will always come!_

 _Thanks to everyone who reviewed or sent me a message, or followed/favored. Your support means a lot to me._

 **Chapter Twenty-One**

It wasn't until Tony had led Georgiana and Bucky into his massive garage and disappeared to pull a car towards the exit that Bucky seemed to finally rub all the sand out of his eyes and once again become aware of his surroundings. Georgiana took the fact that he had felt comfortable enough to sleep in Tony's tower in the first place as a sign of progress in the stressful relationship between Bucky and Tony. Bucky looked around the impressive garage, nodding slightly to himself, until his eyes landed on Georgiana.

"What are you wearing?"

Georgiana glanced down at herself, as if she had to check herself. She was still wearing the suit Tony had made for her. It was so comfortable that she had forgotten to take it off.

"My suit. Tony made it for me," Georgiana answered.

Tony had now pulled a sports car to the exit of the garage, while Bucky and Georgiana walked over to meet him.

Bucky frowned. "Is it bulletproof?"

"Um." Georgiana doubted even material made from Stark Industries were bulletproof. "No. But it is sturdy."

This did not seem to make Bucky feel any better.

"Hey," Georgiana said, gentle. "I heal fast, remember. You don't need to worry so much about the getting hurt thing."

"Someone has too," he muttered under his breath.

Georgiana stopped walking, and Bucky stopped beside her. Ahead of them, Tony honked his horn, as if telling them to hurry over and get into the shiny orange sports car.

"I'm not going to stop going on missions, whether that's a problem for you or not," Georgiana said.

Bucky looked taken aback.

"It's not," he said. "I just don't like the idea of you getting hurt, even if you heal from most anything. But I do think you'd be good for the team. Better than me, anyway."

Rendered momentary speechless by Bucky's moment of honest vulnerability, Georgiana climbed into the sports car silently. Bucky cramped himself into the small backseat area. Tony had made a point on their way to the garage that Bucky was not invited to sit in the front seat with him.

She had gotten so use to the current Bucky, who was usually very calm and content, that it was easy to forget that he was still haunted from his past. He had been working so well with everyone, she had never thought that he might not feel as if he deserved to be on the team in the first place.

"Natasha and Clint will be meeting us at the base," said Tony, referring to where the Spring Children were currently being kept.

It would have been faster to fly to the destination on the aircraft that Bucky and Georgiana had taken to Stark Tower, but Tony had refused to fly in anything Bucky would be in control of, and Georgiana still did not feel comfortable about being the pilot herself. So they drove instead. Tony's orange sports car was smooth and fast and quiet, and the city was lit up by the moon and the streetlights.

It took about a half hour for Bucky to become bored of the silent car and stretch out along the back seat to fall back asleep. His seatbelt was twisted around him awkwardly as he slept, so Georgiana leaned over her seat and carefully straightened it out.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Tony asked, quietly as to not wake up Bucky.

Georgiana sat back down in her passenger seat again, tucking her legs underneath of herself as she fixed her own seatbelt.

"What do you mean?"

"His metal arm," Tony said. "It doesn't bother you?"

Georgiana glanced back at Bucky, to make sure he was really asleep. He was usually a restless sleeper, fighting his own nightmares. She often woke up from bad memory dreams to hear him thrashing around in his own room. The only time she had ever seen him sleep as motionless as he currently was were the moments where he was sleeping on top of her covers during the watch shifts that the team created when they knew she was sleep healing.

"Not at all," she said, turning slightly red. "In fact, it was the metal arm that made me trust him in the first place."

Tony raised an eyebrow and sent her a doubtful look.

"It's true," Georgiana said. "Because it isn't skin, I can touch it without having to worry about healing him, and in turn getting hurt or feeling pain. It's the same reason I trusted Deadpool, because his hands were gloved, so when I touched them I didn't hurt. And Clint, the night I met him, he made a point to cover my hands with a kitchen cloth before touching me, so I trusted him, too."

Tony seemed to think about this for a while.

"Doesn't it hurt that bad?" He asked. "Healing people?"

For some reason, admitting to pain seemed embarrassing. Even though Tony had been the one to take her to the hospital, she still felt as if it made her look weak.

"I get their injuries," she said. "The pain comes with it."

Bucky shifted in the back seat, and Georgiana wondered again how aware of his surroundings he currently was.

"So if you healed, I don't know, I spinal injury . . ."

He was talking about Rhodey. Georgiana suddenly felt self-conscious.

"It would hurt?" Tony asked.

She nodded, eyes staring down at her lap.

Eventually, Georgiana also fell asleep, curled into the side of her seat. When she woke, dawn was breaking, and Tony was pulling up towards a small wooden shack that appeared as if no one had stepped foot in it for years. The shake was also in the middle of nowhere. The land was flat in every direction for as far as the eye could see.

Bucky was awake now, and looking alert once more. He had a hand on her shoulder, and she realized that he must have woken her up.

"We're here," he said.

Tony drove his sports car around the back of the shack and then pulled inside a hole in the wall. Georgiana assumed this was so that anything flying overhead wouldn't spot it. Hopping out of the car, she followed Tony through the small shack and into what looked to have once been a living room.

Clint and Natasha were waiting for them.

"Your sure you want to talk with them?" Clint asked. "They aren't exactly happy people."

Georgiana shrugged. "Would you be?"

Natasha tilted her head, as if to say "fair."

Natasha led them through the shack to the old, broken down and empty kitchen. She opened the drawer by the sink and reached inside to pull a lever. With a small clicking sound, a wall on the other side of the room opened and one-by-one, they all climbed into an elevator.

They went down.

When the elevator opened, it opened into a small monitoring room. There was a wall of dark glass, likely one-sided so that people could look in without being looked at. There was a single metal table and a few matching chairs in the middle of the room. Through the glass wall, the three Spring Children could be seen in the other room, which looked to be set up like a dorm room, with bunk beds, a small fridge, and a door that looked to lead to a bathroom on the other side of the room.

"They don't look like angry people," Georgiana noted.

It was actually very surprising, watching the three large, tough looking Spring Children milling around their room on the other side of the glass wall. She had never seen these three people so relaxed looking before.

"They know that as soon as we take down The Departed that they will be able to return to their families," said Clint. "So far, they have been pretty happy to just chill down here."

"It's the first sort of safety that they have had in a while," said Natasha. "I wouldn't be surprised if they refuse to help you, just because they don't want to leave this sense of protection."

The woman Spring Child, number 001, Gina Washington, was relaxing on the bottom bunk. While 004, the man Georgiana had fought at the parade, named Jonathan Clark, and the strongest and the leader of the Spring Children, 005, Erik Kent, played chess in the corner of the room.

"They are still having drug withdrawals," said Clint. "They are calm right now, but unstable still without the purple drug-"

"Thamah" Natasha reminded him.

"Right," said Clint. "Because of the withdrawals they will act up every once in a while."

"Meaning what, exactly?" asked Bucky. He had a strange tense quality to his voice.

Tony sighed. "Meaning that if you say something they don't like they will either burst into tears or try to rip your arm off." Tony paused and glanced over at Bucky's metal arm. "Although you don't have to worry about that as much as the rest of us."

Bucky glowered at him.

"Has anyone heard back from Thor?" Natasha asked.

Tony shook his head.

Georgiana made a move to the door that would let her into the Spring Children's room. Bucky reached out and tugged her back.

"Maybe you should let someone else talk to them first," he said.

"I'll go in with Georgiana," said Clint. "I've been working with them a lot, they trust me."

"They know I was a captive of The Departed too," said Georgiana, purposefully not mentioning the fact that Jonathan had not recognized her when they had fought at the parade. "They won't hurt me."

Bucky frowned, but he let her go without saying another word. Georgiana shot him a small smile before following Clint into the Spring Children's room.

Inside, the wall that Georgiana knew was one-sided glass looked as if it was made of cement. Jonathan and Erik looked up from their chess board as they entered and shut the door behind them. Gina rolled onto her side as she laid in bed, looking at them with a bored expression.

"Morning," said Clint. "Do any of you remember Georgiana?"

Jonathan nodded. He looked less intimidating setting down, his light brown hair shaggy.

"Yeah, you made some weird energy thing and through an explosion at my face," he said.

Georgiana grimaced. "Sorry about that."

"He won't remember you," said Gina. "The boys don't remember the training The Departed put us through. They messed with our brains."

"You know her?" asked Erik.

Gina nodded. She had lovely skin, dark as night and soft looking. "She was a captive too."

Erik studied Georgiana. "Then why aren't you one of us?"

"I heal people," Georgiana said. "They used me to heal you as you trained, so that you were always in good health."

Jonathan started to chuckle. "Sucks to be you."

Erik looked at her thoughtfully. "You heal? Could you heal us?"

Gina, still sounding bored, quickly told the boys about Georgiana's role at The Departed base.

"Actually, it was the base I wanted to talk to you about," said Georgiana. "We want to set a trap there for McCaffery. It would be the fastest why to end The Departed, and return you to your families."

Erik was suddenly in her face. He shoved Clint out of the way and slammed Georgiana into the wall behind her. It was more of shock than anything, but the sound of her back hitting the wall echoed around the room.

"You want us to go back there!" Erik growled. His face was inches away from her own, and Georgiana flinched away from him and held her breath. Erik had always been the strongest and toughest of the group. He stood over seven feet tall, was extremely broad, and Georgiana had seen him fight. He had been more than a match for Steve and Natasha.

Erik was suddenly thrown away from her, and Georgiana inhaled. Bucky was suddenly beside her, standing slighting in front of her. Bucky looked, if possible, more intimidating than all three of the Spring Children, who were all now very alert and looked ready to attack.

Georgiana suddenly remembered what Natasha had said about Bucky. That he had taken on the entire team before. When Bucky smiled, it was easy to forget that he could effortlessly kill people.

"Wait," said Erik, as he peered around Bucky to look at Georgiana. "I do remember you. McCaffery wants you dead."

Bucky, if even possible, became more tense in front of her.

It took a moment for Georgiana to even realized that her own stomach suddenly felt heavy.

Clint, who had gotten up from the floor, now stood between Bucky and the Spring Children.

"You don't have to help us," Clint said calmly, trying to redirect everyone's focus. "She is asking you, it's your choice to help set the trap if you want."

Gina and Jonathan seemed to relax slightly.

"I would like to hear more details," said Gina.

Georgiana placed a hand on Bucky as if to calm him down, and then she started talking.

 **X-X-X**

"That went well," Georgiana said cheerfully, practically skipping from the barn towards the cabin. Bucky grumbled unhappily behind her.

The sun was now setting. It had taken most of the day to talk the three Spring Children into agreeing to help set the trap. Erik, who was very much the leader of the three, had taken a lot of convincing. He didn't want to put Jonathan's and Gina's lives at risk again, and for that, Georgiana liked him. Despite his rather rough exterior.

Once the Spring Children had agreed, the rest of the day had gone rater smoothly. Natasha had left, promising that she and Steve were planning to return to the cabin in two days, while Clint got the rest of the team updated on the idea and Tony helped to get the new Accords ready to sign. Georgiana had a feeling that Steve was not going to like the plan, especially since she had got slightly behind his back and had gone to Tony first.

Tony had driven them back to Stark Tower, and then Bucky had flown them back towards the cabin.

"Quit brooding," Georgiana teased. "The sooner we get McCaffery, the better."

She realized after she had said it McCaffery's name was never going to lighten up the mood.

Inside the cabin, Georgiana slipped out of her suit and in to sweat clothes. Bucky had disappeared in his room, and she knocked quietly on his door. He didn't answer, but she opened the door anyway and pecked into the room. Bucky was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling with her arms behind his head. Georgiana had known he was upset about the idea of the trap, and still hadn't completely relaxed since Erik had claimed McCaffery wanted her dead.

Carefully, as if not wanting to disturbed a wild animal, Georgiana crawled on top of his bed and curled into his side. Bucky let out a sigh and relaxed as she rested her head on his chest.

"I don't like this," said Bucky.

"I know."

"Something will go wrong," he grumbled.

Something always went wrong.

She could hear Bucky's steady heartbeat under her ear, and her stomach clinched. It didn't sound like the heartbeat of someone not brave or strong or good enough to be a part of the Avengers.

"Hey Bucky?"

"Hm."

"I think you'd be good for the team."

Bucky chuckled, and Georgiana smiled into his chest. His hand came down to run through her hair.

"Have you been fixating on that all day?"

Georgiana half-heartily shrugged. "Maybe."

"Come here." Bucky had his knowing lazy smile on his face.

Georgiana leaned up to gently touch her lips to his. The kiss was lazy and slow, and something seemed to curl within Georgiana's stomach.

Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, might be able to take on the entire team of Avengers when he wasn't thinking about it, but he would never be able to hurt her.


	22. Chapter 22

_Hey everyone! Thanks so much for the support for this story and the well wishes for my new job. It really truly means a lot._

 **Twenty-Two**

Georgiana woke up with a small gasp. For a moment she was disorientated. Between memory dreams about the Spring Children learning how to fight by practicing on each other, and waking up not in her own room at the cabin, it took her a moment to figure out where she was in the dark.

She had something soft and warm around her arms, and she tighten her grip around it, as if using it to anchor her in space. It was Bucky, she realized, and remembered that she had fallen asleep in his room.

He must have tucked them both into the covers once she had fallen asleep, because now she was buried under blankets with her arms around his torso and her head pressed into the space between his shoulder blades as he slept on his side, facing away from her. Bucky must have also moved her to the opposite side of the bed then the side she had fallen asleep on. She was now further away from the door, and she had to peer around Bucky to even find it. Georgiana would not put it past Bucky to have moved her so that he could protect her from someone who came in from the door. Even though the cabin was safe, Erik had just let everyone know that McCaffery wanted her dead.

She doubted she would have anyone alone time until McCaffery was caught.

With that thought in mind, she slipped out of the bed and tip-toed into her room to change into her running clothes. It was four in the morning, so she decided to take a long jog down and up the trail that started in the backyard. This might be her last chance to have a personal moment for a while.

Sweaty from the jog, she returned to the cabin to take a shower and change. Clean again, she grabbed a notebook and went to sit on the front porch steps, pen in hand. Georgiana had filled up half the page with notes when she heard the front door open and close behind her.

She was sitting on the middle step that led up the front porch, and Bucky came to sit on the step above her. He sat down right behind her, so that his legs were on either side of her, and wrapped his arms around her torso. His lips kissed her shoulder and then her neck.

"What's that?" Bucky asked, studying her notebook over her shoulder.

"I'm in the middle of dreaming about the training the Spring Children went through that I had to heal," Georgiana explained. "I figured that as long as I am re-watching them, I might as well study how they fight."

She held the notebook up to give him a better view. "See, Erik is actually left handed, so his left punch is just as good as his right, even though he trains with his right. And Gina, she is considered the second strongest because of the power in her legs."

"Smart," said Bucky. "Do you think you will have to fight them again?"

Georgiana shrugged. "I might as well make these memory dreams as useful as possible. I want to try some of Gina's moves on Natasha next time we spar."

Bucky's arms around her tightened, and he nuzzled his head into her neck as the sun rose over the edges of the surrounding mountains. Georgiana was just about to ask him what he wanted to do for breakfast when he started trailing kisses from her shoulder up to the spot behind her ear that made her melt. His cold metal hand tucked her hair over to the other shoulder, as if to give himself better access, while his other hand gently ran up her side. Between the melting sensation caused from being kissed, and the need to giggle from being tickled, Georgiana squirmed.

A low chuckle rippled through Bucky, and Georgiana could feel it coming from his chest on her back. She could feel his hot breath running down her neck, and she shivered in his arms. She felt him smile on her skin, his kisses trailing back down to her shoulder.

He whispered something – possibly Russian or Romanian – in her ear.

Quick as lightning, Bucky was pulling away from her just as a car came into view. Before the car had even driven all the way up the driveway, Steve had jumped out of the passenger door and had started marching over to them. Bucky's arms slipped away and he leaned back, as if to create more space between them. Steve had reached them just as the car stopped by the garage and Natasha started heading over. She looked to be in just as bad of mood as Steve, who was fuming.

"You were supposed to be protecting her," Steve said, glaring at Bucky. "Not helping her set up some trap that would put her near the person who wants her dead."

Natasha had finally made it to the porch.

"Let's talk," she said, taking Georgiana's arm and pulling her up to her feet. Natasha led her inside the cabin to the kitchen.

"I'm disappointed," Natasha said, rounding on Georgiana the moment they were in the kitchen. "I didn't want to say anything when you were healing, or when you were talking to the Spring Children. But I do not approve of the time you wasted."

Georgiana frowned at the word "time." She had no idea what Natasha was talking about.

"We spent the entire summer training, and then you didn't even use our training when you were in a fight." Natasha crossed her arms. Georgiana suddenly got the feeling that Natasha was forcing herself to appear mad. "If you wanted to fight using some strange energy force thing, we should have been training that way all summer."

Georgiana shook her head, but a smile was creeping onto her face. "I didn't even know I could do that until Thor suggested it. And I can't train with the force-shields, because they only appear when I can predict someone becoming injured."

Just then the boys opened the front door and came inside. Steve looked less angry already, and Georgiana wondered what Bucky could have said to him in the short amount of time to calm him down.

"There is an easy loophole around that," Natasha said.

In a blur, Natasha pulled out a knife from a drawer and threw it at Bucky. Georgiana's hand shot out, and energy burst from her arm, shooting towards the flying knife. A small force-shield created itself around the now suspended knife. As she held the force-shield, it turned from a clear looking ball into a white fog. Just as Georgiana realized that the knife was no longer a threat, the force-shield disappeared, and the knife fell to the floor.

Georgiana's nose started to bleed. Bucky was by her side in an instant.

"You can't do stuff like that Natasha." Bucky practically growled. "You were with her in the hospital, you know the damage force-shields do to her own body."

"Can we get back to the matter at hand?" Steve asked, as he took Georgiana's chin and lifted her face, as if checking her condition himself. "If there really is no way of talking you guys out of the idea of setting a trap for McCaffery, then I want to know every detail."

Natasha handed Georgiana a dish rag to whip off the blood coming from her nose.

Bucky sighed. "Might want to sit down then."

Already exhausted from creating the small force-shield, Bucky all but shoved her into her bedroom and shut the door on her, telling her to take a nap while he explained everything. Georgiana considered fighting him, but even though the force-shield was small, it had made her slightly dizzy.

When she woke up from her nap, it was midafternoon, and the cabin was quiet. She found Steve in the living room, watching something out of a window.

"Feeling better?" Steve asked, when she went to stand beside him.

"Yeah," Georgiana said, looking out of Steve's window in hopes of finding something to change the subject.

Outside, Bucky and Natasha were lying in the grass, and Natasha was pointing to something in the sky. They looked peaceful, and Natasha said something that made Bucky grab his stomach and laugh, his nose crinkling up. A warming swelling spread over Georgiana's chest.

"You're fond of him," Steve said, glancing over at her.

"Only a little," she teased, and Steve elbowed her side.

"You know, I was worried for a long time that Bucky would never really come back. That he would always stay as a dark, broken version of himself," said Steve. "And I knew he was worried about it, too. But since you've been around, he smiles more. Laughs easily. You two are good for each other."

Heat rushed into Georgiana's cheeks. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"Do you still not remember anything?" He asked. "About your past."

"No," said Georgiana. "Not a thing. Not everything can be healed."

Steve frowned and nodded, looking back out the window.

"Sometimes I think it might have been easier on him if he had been like you," said Steve. "If he hadn't remembered anything that he was forced to do."

Out the window, Bucky was laughing again, and Natasha looked very pleased with herself. Georgiana wondered if she had ever sat outside with a friend, her friend George perhaps, who she couldn't remember, and had laughed at the shapes of clouds.

"Easier, maybe." Georgiana smiled, as outside Natasha threw some grass into Bucky's face. "But if you think for one moment that I would rather forget George than remember him and have a harder life, then you are wrong."

Steve stared at her for a moment, and she waited before continuing, wanting him to know how much his friendship with Bucky meant.

"Bucky told me the other day that he didn't think he should be on the team," said Georgiana.

Steve sighed. "I know how he feels. I think that is why he and Natasha get along. They both want to whip some red off their ledgers."

Georgiana doubted Bucky wanted to wipe off anything from his past. He likely didn't think he deserved to be forgiven.

It wasn't until after dinner that Georgiana found herself alone with Natasha at the dining table as the two boys talked on the porch. Thoughts still swimming with what Steve had brought up earlier, Georgiana leaned forward on her chair to speak quietly to Natasha.

"Hey Nat, how come people still call Bucky the Winter Soldier if he now works with the Avengers?"

"Names have power," Natasha said simply. "The Winter Solder had been spotted on around two dozen missions over the last fifty years. No matter whose side he is on, he has a reputation that should scare anyone."

Georgiana frowned. He had only been spotted in the last fifty years, but he had been captured around seventy years ago. It had taken twenty years to break, manipulate, and train Bucky into being the Winter Soldier. He had fought back for twenty years.

And he had lost.

No wonder Bucky thought there was no way to return to who he had been before. There was no going back after that. All he could try to do was build himself into someone new. But it is impossible to be completely new when you are made of memories.

The urge to be wrapped around Bucky's arms, to feel the difference between the metal and the skin, spread within Georgiana. Telling Natasha goodnight, she opened the door that led to the front porch and reached out to grab Bucky's hand and his attention.

He leaned towards her as she whispered.

"Will you sleep in my room tonight?"

He nodded with a little smile and returned to talking to Steve as Georgiana slipped back inside and into her bedroom. Curled onto her side on the bed, facing away from the door, Georgiana was just about to fall asleep when the door opened, closed, and Bucky slipped in behind her. His arms wrapped around her stomach, and he tucked her head under his chin. He was asleep almost instantly.

Georgiana absentmindedly brushed her fingers over his metal arm. She had told Tony that she liked Bucky's metal arm because it had helped build trust between the two of them, but maybe that thought went a little deeper than she had realized. Maybe it wasn't the metal arm at all, maybe it was just Bucky.

She loved him because she couldn't heal him.


	23. Chapter 23

_Thanks once more everyone for your support!_

 **Twenty-Three**

For the first time in a long time, Georgiana woke up slowly. The world softly came into focus. The memory nightmares were catching up to present day. Last night she had dreamt she was Sam as he got hurt in the fourth of July parade, right before he flew over to save Georgiana's life as she slipped off of Redwing and fell. That was the last major healing that Georgiana could remember doing, and her subconscious seemed to think so too, showing by the calm and relaxed way she woke up, instead of her usual jolts into consciousness.

Or maybe she woke up feeling completely rested because Bucky was in her bed, deeply asleep, and holding her to his chest.

McCaffery could try to kill her all he wanted, but James Buchanan Barnes would never allow it.

Georgiana stayed where she was for a long moment, trying to memorize Bucky's sleeping face. Memorize the way the morning light lit his disheveled hair, the glow his silver metal arm reflected, and tension in his face. It was no secret that Bucky suffered from his own nightmares, he usually just suffered through them silently and motionless. In the day, he could be relaxed and happy, but at night, his memories seemed to come back to haunt him.

Running a hand over his cheek, Georgiana tried to get his face to relax. It worked, but only slightly. He mumbled something in his sleep, and his arms tighten around her before he let go completely to roll onto his stomach, his face pressed into a pillow.

Georgiana kissed his temple.

Slipping out of bed, Georgiana changed into her running gear and tip-toed towards the front door. Steve was once again on the hide away bed in the living room, and Natasha was nowhere to be found. Realizing that Bucky must have offered Natasha his room, since he had known he would be sleeping in Georgiana's, Georgiana's entire face to turn red.

The moment Georgiana opened the front door a large gust of wind slammed into her, lightning stuck the lawn, and then:

BOOM!

Georgiana was thrown slightly backwards from a large burst of wind into Steve, who must have jumped up the moment Georgiana had opened the door. Steve sidestepped her so that he was slightly in front of her. The air cleared, and suddenly there were two people standing in the front yard.

Thor was back from Asgard, and he had brought a friend.

 **X-X-X**

Her name was Jane, and she reminded Georgiana of a swan.

Jane was very pretty, had feathery brown hair, a killer smile, and a bad habit of pricking Georgiana's skin for small blood samples.

"Sorry," Jane said, as she leaned over the back of the couch to get another blood sample from Georgiana's upper arm.

Georgiana sent her a small smile to tell her it was alright, but she scooted slightly away from where Jane was hovering. Bucky, who sat beside her on the couch, moved so that his arm rested on the back of the couch, acting as a barrier between where Georgiana sat and where Jane hovered.

It was obvious that Jane's mind went a million miles a second. She kept pacing from the living room – to get samples of Georgiana's blood – to the dining room table – where her equipment was spread out.

Everyone else sat in the living room, focusing on Thor, as he took a small case of the purple drug out of a pocket and placed it on the small coffee table in the middle of the living room.

"That is the only sample of Thamah left," said Thor. "The rest has been moved to a new location and has higher security. Your Departed people won't be seeing any new supplies. We also have a guardian set up on the planet where it comes from."

Natasha, who sat in the darkest corner of the room in the large armchair, nodded. "Without an incoming supply, McCaffery will likely be forced to use everything he has left in one go."

Steve, who stood beside Thor, frowned. "How was McCaffery even able to get the drug in the first place?"

"It appears not everyone is who they say they are," said Thor. "A mischief maker lives in Asgard. I have yet to uncloak his identity."

"This is amazing!"

Jane had returned from her equipment to buzz around the living room. "No wonder you stated Thamah was never used on you," Jane said, gesturing at Georgiana. "Thamah itself is the juice from the rocks in Alfheim, but even there it is very rare. To drink the juice and process it, much less have it injected straight into the body, would cause anyone to change both physically and mentally. It would cause the body to develop muscle mass, bone density. The bone length itself would grow. In turn it reverts the brain back to instincts. The body is then run more on emotions than thoughts. Anyone with prolonged exposure to the drug within their body could possibly change completely into a whole new species."

Jane was smiling the whole time she said this, as if this was the most exciting thing to ever happen. She gestured again at Georgiana.

"But when I mix just one drop of your blood into a case of Thamah, the entire drug changes," Jane said.

"Changes how?" Bucky removed his arm from the back of the couch to lean forward.

"It losses all of its properties," said Jane. "Thamah mixed with Georgiana's blood makes it so that drinking it would be nothing more than just drinking water."

"Water mixed with blood," said Natasha.

"Well, yes, I'm not saying you _should_ drink it," said Jane, before rounding back towards Georgiana. "Do you know how this McCaffery person would have known your affected on the drug?"

Georgiana shook her head. "I don't think I ever touched it, but McCaffery might have taken a sample of my blood when I was unconscious and still locked up in one of his cages."

"Maybe he didn't know," said Natasha.

Steve nodded. "He wanted Georgiana for her healing abilities, not to change her into one of the Spring Children. He likely never even thought to use it on her in the first place, why would he risk damaging a healer?"

Georgiana felt like agreeing with the super spy and the super soldier, but Jane was shaking her head and pacing around the living room again.

"Without the Spring Children, Thamah is McCaffery's last source of power over people, right?" Jane asked.

Thor looked thoughtful. "Yes. Although he still has a large purple giant somewhere."

Jane took the sample of Thamah off of the table and to hold in her hand. "Steve, you told me that this McCaffery person wants Georgiana dead. I doubt it was because she fought with a Spring Child that he no longer has control over. More likely, he wants her dead because he knows her blood can make his drug ineffective."

Thor clapped a hand onto Jane's shoulder, looking down at her softly with pride. Jane, however, was now frowning down at case of Thamah in her hand, which was shining purple in the sun that streamed in from the windows.

"You said McCaffery has a purple Hulk?" Jane asked.

"Yes," said Natasha. "Evidence suggests so."

Jane held up the case of Thamah for everyone to look at it. "Well, this drug could do that. It would just take a very long time."

For a moment, all Georgiana could do was stare at the small case of purple liquid. Of course, why hadn't anyone thought of that? McCaffery had captured the people he was making into his Spring Children, he had captured the Hulk, Georgiana, Bucky, and half of the Avengers. In order to pull that off, he must have been kidnapping people long before he had started The Departed. The question was, who was the unlucky soul who McCaffery had kidnapped first, and had pumped so much Thamah into them that they were now a monster.

 **X-X-X**

Steve and Natasha were able to convince Thor and Jane to spend the night and postpone leaving until tomorrow morning. Before sleeping arrangements could be decided, Jane passed out on the large armchair, curled up like a cat. Thor tucked a blanket around her.

Natasha had spent a large time of the day training Georgiana with the help of Thor, who actually knew a little about force-shields. The training had been stressful and exhausting, even though it had only lasted a few hours. It had been stressful because there needed to be a real threat in order for force-shields to even be an option, so Natasha held nothing back. It had been exhausting simply because of the damage creating force-shields seemed to cause to Georgiana's own body.

Only an hour after Jane passed out on the couch, Georgiana herself started to fall asleep where she was sitting near Steve at the dining table, listen to Steve and Bucky compare war stories with Thor's stories of Asgard.

"You worked with force-shields a lot today." Bucky leaned into her from his chair and spoke in a low voice that almost sent Georgiana to sleep. "You should go get some rest."

In her tiredness, Georgiana felt herself slip into a small pout. "I feel like all I do lately is sleep."

Bucky gave her his lazy smile, and butterflies erupted in her stomach.

A shy smile grew onto Georgiana's face. "Are you coming back tonight?"

Bucky gave her a very casual nod, and that was that. Feeling better about going to bed because she knew Bucky would be coming in later to sleep, Georgiana said her good nights, and slipped into her room.

Almost instantly, Georgiana's cell phone lit up, and F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice spoke softly.

"Ms. Georgiana, a message from Mr. Stark."

"Give it to me F.R.I.D.A.Y.," said Georgiana, crawling into bed.

Her phone lit up again. "Message reads: Trap is set. See you in the morning? At location."

Georgiana yawned. "Send a reply message, please, saying: See you then."

F.R.I.D.A.Y. glowed on her phone as the message was sent.

"See who tomorrow?"

Bucky had snuck into the bedroom, and was closing the door behind him.

"Tony," said Georgiana. "The trap is ready."

Bucky's easy demeanor changed and became tense. He looked nervous.

"Are you ready?" Bucky asked, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants and looking completely uncomfortable.

Georgiana climbed back out of bed and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, pressing her ear into his chest.

"Yes," she said. "I'm ready for this to be over."

When Bucky did nothing, just stood there with his hands in his pockets as she hugged him, Georgiana suddenly felt nervous, too.

"I'm ready to stop looking over my shoulder," she added.

Bucky sighed, and encased his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"Yeah," he breathed. "Me, too."

And Georgiana wondered if he was still talking about The Departed.


	24. Chapter 24

_Hey guys! My next update will be the last chapter of this story. Obviously my new job has been keeping me from updating the way I used to, so I am bringing this story to its end. If there is anything you are dying to have happen by the end, let me know and I will see what I can do! Thanks again for the support! It truly does mean a lot to me. I get a lot of enjoyment out of writing this story. I've been thinking about creating another story that acts like a series of oneshots that follow Georgiana and Bucky after the end of this story, but from many points of view, what do you think?_

 **Twenty-Four**

"Alright, everyone stick to the plan and we should be in and out of here," said Steve.

Tony rolled his eyes, and the mask of his Iron Man suit clanked over so that he was completely covered in metal. The eyes of his mask lit up.

"Thanks for that nugget of wisdom," Tony said. The suit started to hum slightly and he hovered an inch off of the metal floor. "Let's stop wasting time and get this show in the road."

With that, Tony flew out of the front room of The Departed base and back outside. Georgiana watched him until he zipped out of sight.

With one last nod to the group, Steve headed deeper inside the base, leaving the lobby and going to the right. Natasha winked at Georgiana and then disappeared, following Steve.

Georgiana turned towards the rest of group still standing in the large metal lobby of the base. Bucky stood close to her, looking more tense than usual, and the three Spring Children stood off to the side, huddled together. No one looked very happy to be back at this base.

"Let's get this over with," said Jonathan, who out of the three Spring Children was looking the most nervous. The other two, Gina and Erik, nodded. Erik walked over to Georgiana and placed his large hand on her shoulder. Then without a word, the three of them slipped deeper into the base, heading left.

While Tony was stationed outside to make sure the perimeter of the base was kept clear, Steve and Natasha were inside looking for any clues as to who was giving McCaffrey the mysterious drug, and for his large purple giant. The three Spring Children were going inside to lead McCaffrey towards the trap, as McCaffrey would likely want them back under his control, and to act as more man power.

Bucky took Georgiana's hand. "Let's go."

And then there was Georgiana and Bucky, who were acting as the trap itself.

The lobby of the base had a large opening so that hefty vehicles could come inside and unload materials, or, Georgiana suspected, people. Bucky picked a motorcycle that was near the opening, and Georgiana climbed up behind him, lopping her arms around his waist.

"Hold on," he said, his voice rough and quiet. Normally, that voice would have given her butterflies, but today she just felt nervous.

Wind whipped around Georgiana's face as Bucky sped around the base. Their part of the plan meant that they had to go in through the back entrance. Georgiana found it ironic that she and Bucky would be sneaking into the base the way they had left all those months before, through the underground tunnels.

Clint's voice came in through Georgiana's earpiece just as Bucky was parking the motorcycle and cutting off the engine.

"Alright, the last of McCaffrey's other known bases have been blown up," Clint said, his voice coming in choppy because of his distance away from the group. While Steve, Tony, Natasha, Bucky, the three Spring Children, and Georgiana were at the original base to set the trap, Clint and Scott were in Ireland taking out one of the bases. Thor was in Madagascar, taking out another base, and Wanda and Vision were somewhere on the border of Russia.

"Good," Natasha said, her voice also coming from the earpiece. "Let McCaffery come crying on home."

Once again taking hold of Bucky's metal hand, Georgian led them into the underground tunnels. It was dark and damp, and smelled slightly of something dead.

"Stay close," Bucky said, when they reached the end of the tunnel and stepped back into the base.

"I think I can take care of myself," Georgiana said, trying to smile and lighten up the mood. Bucky just stared at her for a moment, his light eyes looking intently, before he started to lead them through the empty hallways of the base.

"Steve and I have found McCaffrey's supply of Thamah." Natasha's voice came again. "Georgiana's blood sample has been placed inside, so this creepy tank of purple liquid shouldn't be anything more than really gross water in a few minutes."

Georgiana frowned and tugged on Bucky's arm. "There wasn't a tank of the drug the last time Tony swept the area, was there?"

Bucky shook his head. "McCaffrey must be closer than we thought."

"I thought F.R.I.D.A.Y. was monitoring the building?" Georgiana said. Then reached for her earpiece and repeated her question so that everyone could hear.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. _is_ monitoring the building," said Tony through the earpiece.

"Well there must have been a glitch in her system," came Steve's voice, "because someone has been here between now and your last visit, Tony."

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. doesn't glitch." Tony sounded as if he was frowning. "The only way someone could have come and gone without F.R.I.D.A.Y. knowing would be if . . ."

Tony's voice trailed off, and Georgiana turned to send Bucky a questioning look. Bucky shrugged his shoulders.

"If what?" Came Gina's voice from the earpiece.

"Would be if it wasn't a human that was coming into the building." Tony finished.

"Are you saying that McCaffery has an army of birds and mice to carry around his secret space drugs?" Erik asked through the earpiece.

"That's not what I meant," said Tony.

Beside her, Bucky cursed. A moment later, it clicked, and Georgiana's heart dropped. F.R.I.D.A.Y. wouldn't have counted a large, purple, giant.

"Alright, everyone check in," said Steve, his voice tight.

"Everything looks clear out here," said Tony.

"I haven't seen anything." Erik.

"Me either." Gina. "Jonathan?"

Bucky had started down one of the tall, dark hallways and Georgian kept close behind him. Currently Bucky was dressed in complete black, and with Georgiana in her new suit, she felt as if they were blending into the dark and empty hallways.

"Jonathan?" Gina asked again.

Bucky stopped when they reached a corner and peered around the edge. He had a rather large gun strapped around his back and what Georgiana though was a pistol at his waist. His hand twitched as if to reach for it. When he didn't signal right away for them to continue moving, Georgiana glanced around him. The hallway Bucky was peering down was empty, what was he waiting for? Bucky exhaled, and then they continued down the hallway.

"I'm going to go looking for Jonathan," said Erik. His voice came in quietly through the earpiece, but it seemed loud as Georgiana followed Bucky silently down the dark hallways.

"No, don't," said Steve. "Natasha and I will look into it. Gina and Erik, the two of you should regroup. We need to readjust slightly. Bucky, are you and Georgiana are still headed towards the room?"

"Yeah, we are on our way," Bucky responded.

"Alright Gina, where do you want to regroup?" Erik asked.

Bucky led the way down one more hallway and then they were back in the large room where Georgiana, Bucky, and Bruce had been kept in cages. A shiver ran down Georgiana's spine, and Bucky squeezed her hand before he let it go. They split apart from each other so that they could check the perimeter of the large room.

Since Georgiana had told her plan to Tony, Tony had come back and changed the inside of the room. Instead of three cages lined up on the wall of the room, like there had been back when Georgiana had been kept in a cage between the Hulk and Bucky, the bars had been moved and rewired so that the entire room was covered in bars, acting like a one large birdcage. Once the perimeter of the room was checked, Georgiana headed back over to Bucky, who was looking at the electoral box Tony had set up in the room the day before.

"Gina?" Erik asked.

Bucky pointed towards the electrical box. "Pull this lever and the bars will come down over the door." He pointed towards a small button. "This one will cause the bars to vibrate with electricity again."

Georgiana nodded. "You –"

"I can't find Gina," Erik's voice interrupted though the earpiece. "I think I will try – hold up – holy!"

"Erik?" Steve asked.

"That's it, you guy are ruining this plan," said Tony. "I'm coming insi-"

For a split second the ground shook, then there was a _pop!_ and Georgiana's earpiece sparked. She flung it out of her ear and tossed it to the side. Bucky had done the same, and was now crushing his earpiece under his foot. Georgiana watched as he quickly faded from a tense and calm demeanor to one of nervousness.

"We should go find –"

"Steve," Georgiana finished, and Bucky sent her a thankful look.

It didn't matter if they stuck to the plan anymore or not. Without a way to communicate with Steve, Georgiana knew that Bucky would be distracted. And that could get them killed.

Bucky once again started to lead the way down the dark and cold hallways of the base. Without the earpiece Georgiana felt as if suddenly everyone was very far away. The base was rather maze like, or at least it seemed to be as Georgiana silently crept along the dark corners of the place behind Bucky.

As they rounded a corner, a puff of thick, heavy, and warm air ran down Georgiana's back. There was a tug on the back of her suit, and she was hoisted into the air. Bucky called something out, but Georgiana couldn't make out the words as she was flung backwards in the air, wind rushing around her ears.

Flying backwards, Georgiana caught a glimpse of a large, purple tinted shadow hanging from the ceiling in the tall hallway and hovering above Bucky. Then she smacked into the cold metal wall of the hallway and fell to the floor.

Her ears rang with silence, and for a moment her vision blurred. Her body ached, her spine was on fire. Was this how Rhodey felt when he was injured? Was it karma that Rhodey's injury, the one she had been dreading to heal, going to be the injury that kept her from stopping McCaffrey and his large, purple, Hulk-like giant that was now hovering over Bucky?

There was a large bang that cut through the white pulsing noise in Georgiana's ears, and light spilled into the room. Something had created a large hole in the side wall of the hallway, letting in the cold sunlight from outside.

The purple giant was not hovering over Bucky. Instead, Georgiana could make out their blurry figures, and from the way they moved Georgiana assumed that they were actually engaged in a fight. The giant swung an arm, missed Bucky's moving figure, and hit the side of the metal wall. The wall crumpled at the spot, and more sunlight fled into the hallways of the base.

There was a buzz of red and gold – Tony - shooting through the new whole in the wall from outside. As if swatting at a bug, the purple giant hit the Iron Man suit with the back of his hand, and Tony went flying straight into Bucky. The two went spiraling. The purple giant reached one of his monstrous hands towards them.

"No!"

Georgiana's hand shot out, and with it white clouding pulses of energy covered her arm and appeared over the spot where Tony and Bucky laid crumpled on the floor. It acted like pulsing, cloudy shell, surrounded the two men in a bubble. The purple giant slammed his fist onto the force shield, over and over again, and yelled out. It looked something almost like a toddler, becoming more frantic every time he couldn't get through the force shield.

The energy around Georgiana's arm was now inching to spread and cover her entire body. As it did so, she felt herself heal faster than she ever had before, and stood up on two strong legs. With the energy mist now around her whole body, she let her hand drop. The force shield acting as a barrier between Tony and Bucky, and the giant, stayed where it was, content to pulse a shield around Georgiana's teammates without her attention.

"Look out!" Bucky called out.

The purple giant let out a loud scream that seemed to ripple from his chest, then he turned and charged towards Georgiana. She let him come. His loud footsteps caused the floor to shake. She knew that just a few days ago, she would have flinched backwards at the giant's approach. But she was no longer that girl who woke up alone in a cell without memories or a name. And she was tired of stepping backwards. Tired of hiding. It had to end.

The giant's hand reached out towards her, and froze. The white pulsing cloud around Georgiana's own body had disappeared and covered the giant's body instead, rendering him motionless. Georgiana imagined all the past Shaymin of the Universe telling her what to do; imagined their muscle memory being her own. She had the urge to throw her arm up, or push forward, or ever press down. In each urge she felt as if she knew what would happen. The giant would fly upward and hit the ceiling, or backwards, or smack into the ground.

Instead, Georgiana pushed those urges aside, took off her glove, and reached out her hand.

Maybe this giant was like the Hulk. Maybe this giant was another captured and experimented on and used person. Maybe Georgiana was still the girl who woke up alone in a cell without memories and trusted people just because they held her hand, after all.

"Don't do it Georgy. Don't you dare do it."

Gently, Georgiana's fingers brushed the outside of the giant's fist.

The white cloud around the giant, and behind him around Tony and Bucky, disappeared. Pain ripped through Georgiana, and she screamed. Her muscles spasmed as she collapsed back onto the floor. The white noise returned to her ears. In her blurry vision, the purple giant began to shrink. His color began to changed. And his face deformed and reformed.

Andrew McCaffrey collapsed down beside her.

McCaffrey seemed out of breath and injured. He clutched to his sides and rocked himself back and forth. Laughter came out in the moments when he wasn't panting for air. Georgiana's healing had hurt him, too. Or perhaps it was just a side-effect from changing bodies.

With one last wild sound, as if McCaffrey still though he was a large giant, he found enough energy to pounce at Georgiana. He was plucked out of the air almost instantly by a flash of red and gold. Tony.

A warm hand, and a cold hand, gently touched Georgiana, and she focused on Bucky's face. He helped her up. Head spinning, Georgiana leaned into him, and suddenly she felt her feet leave the ground. She rested her head on Bucky's chest as he held her. Tony was talking to McCaffrey, but Georgiana couldn't focus on what he was saying as Tony placed McCaffrey in what looked to be electronic handcuffs. A small smile grew on Georgiana's face as Tony and Bucky nodded at each other, and then it was once again, lights out.

 **X-X-X**

Georgiana woke up to Bucky playing with her hair. Instantly, she knew that she was back at the cabin. Sunlight was streaming happily into her bedroom, and she was tucked into her warm and soft bed. Bucky was on the top of the bed beside her, and he looked relaxed and happy in a way that Georgiana had only even seen when they went into town and were surrounded by strangers.

"Hey," he said.

She smiled. "Hey."

Her voice crocked, and Bucky chuckled.

"How long was I out this time?"

"A few weeks." Bucky pushed all of her hair out of her face. "Let's see. McCaffrey is in jail. The amendments to the Accords have been finalized. I read them over and they aren't actually half bad, the team did a good job on them. They are called the Avengers Accords, now. Or the AA. The last of the Thamah is now gone, Thor took it off planet. Jonathan, Gina, and Erik are back with their family. Did I miss anything?"

Georgiana shifted onto her side and scooted closer to Bucky, who wrapped an arm around her and kissed her forehead, as if it was instinct to do so.

"Did you sign the Accords?"

"Nah," Bucky chuckled. "Not my style."

Georgiana smiled into his chest. "Should I sign them?"

"Read them and then decide."

Birds were chirping outside and a gentle breeze was coming in through the window. Georgiana listened for other people to be moving around in the cabin, but everything was quiet.

"Guess what," Georgiana said.

"What?"

Georgiana pulled her head back to look up at him. "No more running or hiding."

That lazy, knowing smile grew over Bucky's face.

"Maybe we can continue hiding for a little while," he said, and then his lips met hers.


	25. Chapter 25

_Hey guys! So welcome to the last chapter. I wanted to thank everyone one last time for sticking with this story. Your reviews, comments, follows, and favorites have meant so much to me. I will be continuing this story, so keep a look out for more of Georgiana Barton Barnes._

 **Twenty-Five**

"We got a runner."

Through the thick crowd at the outdoor market it seemed difficult to turn around, let along spot a single person. Even if they were running.

"On it." That was Natasha's voice coming for the earpiece.

Sure enough, only seconds later Georgiana spotted Natasha's redhead racing through the crowd, her cap flying off of her head as she picked up speed. Georgiana reminded herself to stay focused. The crowd was difficult for her without her suit, because every time she bumped into someone who was injured she ended up healing them, but it was too hot and it would have been too obvious for this mission for her to wear the suit under her clothes. The crowd might have made it frustrating, but she needed to stay on task.

It wasn't just the crowd. She hadn't seen Bucky for a few weeks. Which was also distracting. The faster this mission ended, the sooner she would see Bucky.

"Second runner is heading towards the train station," Sharon reported, her voice also coming in through the earpiece.

"I'm a little tied up at the moment," said Wanda. Her voice sounded strained.

"On my way," replied Georgiana, and she started making her way through the mass of people, running hard. The sun beat hot down into the African desert.

It had been three months since McCaffrey had gone to jail. Two months since the Spring Children had been released from the hospital and reunited with their families. One month since Georgiana had signed a temporary employment form for the Avenger Accords under the name Georgiana Barton Barnes. Her contract with the Avengers would last a year, and then she would either renew it, or not. Steve, Wanda, Sam, and Clint had also all signed a temporary contract form. Bucky had not, although he still usually went with Steve on missions, just without the knowledge of the common people of the world.

"Are you sure you don't just want to stay here?" Bucky had asked the night before she signed the Avenger Accords. "I can think of plenty of other activities to keep you busy," he had added, his lips trailing up from Georgiana's shoulder to her neck as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back to his chest.

Georgiana tried again to force Bucky out of her mind as she pushed her way through the crowd. She needed to focus. Bucky often came on missions with her. In fact, there had been many missions where she and Bucky had teamed up with Natasha and Steve. But recently it was becoming more common for Georgiana to go on missions with Clint and or Wanda. Her current mission consisted of an all-girl party of Natasha, Wanda, and Sharon.

"I see the train station," Georgiana said.

"Okay, bank left and go around the building," said Sharon. "He is heading south. Towards the train that is boarding."

Georgiana pushed her way through the last of the crowd and hit the open space where the only people were those waiting in line to get a train ticket. Jumping a fence, Georgiana jumped down into the pit of the train station, rolling over her shoulder when she landed and rolling back onto her feet, still running. She hit the multiple train tracks and readjusted where she was going so that she cut through the stationary trains towards the boarding one.

Behind her she heard someone say "Reviver," and suddenly the crowd behind her became louder. She was starting to become recognizable in crowds as she spent more time on missions.

"The train is taking off," Sharon's voice said. Georgiana wondered why Sharon was still in the same lookout spot, when really she should have left to go help Wanda, who was likely still tied up at the moment with five other targets. She had never liked Sharon.

"It won't," replied Georgiana.

Running right in front of the train that was just starting to pick up speed and head out of the station, Georgiana planted herself into the ground and raised her hands, concentrating. She took a moment to close her eyes and imagine the image that would happen if she didn't stop the train. The target inside had a stolen explosive in his backpack, there was a possibility that the train could explode and kill all the people inside. With that image clear in her head, Georgiana opened her eyes and let the energy pulse from her arms. Misting smoke formed around her arms, her fingers, and then also appeared at the front of the train. Georgiana imagined it growing, felt her nose start to bleed, and then the force-shield started to inch its way down the train to pool around the train wheels.

With a groaning sound the train bumped to a stop. Moments before the train came to a complete stop, a figure jumped off the side of the train, running in the opposite direction of Georgiana. That, then, must be her target. Forcing the train to a safe stop, Georgiana's force shields disappeared, and she took off after the runner.

"Alright," came Wanda's voice. "I'm free, where is everyone?"

"My runner was a distraction," said Natasha. "Georgiana, you have the last target, he must have the explosive."

Georgiana was already gaining on her target. He was taller than her by a long shot, but his size made it harder for him to get through the thick crowd that he had ran into, while Georgiana was able to slip past people with ease. He also seemed to be a sprinter, and with the weight of his backpack, he was already slowing down.

With only a few people between them now, Georgiana threw her arm out as she ran. A force-shield flashed in and out of existence right in front of the running man, and he slammed into it, knocking himself onto the ground. He scrambled back onto his feet just as Georgiana reached him and threw a punch in her direction. With well practice movements and an easy flow, Georgiana twisted his arms, wrapped her calves around his neck, and twisted in the air. They flew to the ground, Georgiana landed on top of him, her knee on his chest and her hand gently on his neck, acting only as a reminder for him that he was messing with an Avenger.

"Hello," she said cheerfully down to her target. His face fell.

A moment later Wanda appeared by Georgiana's side. "Good job," Wanda said, panting slightly.

 **X-X-X**

Bucky was waiting on the ground when the jet landed. Georgiana brushed past Natasha, Wanda, and Sharon to leap down the steps of the jet exit and bounded towards him. He had that lazy, knowing smile on his face when he saw her, and was already chuckling when she slammed into him, clucking him in a hug. He placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Hey, Love," He said quietly to her. She smiled into his chest. He called her that often these days, switching from Love to Doll whenever he wanted to use an endearing term.

Georgiana briefly lifted her head to smile up at him and kiss his scratching chin before placing her head back on his chest, her ear pressed on top of his heart.

From her warm and safe spot in Bucky's arms, she watched as Sharon casually met with Steve, who had also been waiting for the girls' jet to land. There was something friendly and comfortable between Sharon and Steve, but Georgiana had never seen any affection between the two of them, and she found that odd, considering how affection Steve was towards his friends. Behind Sharon, Natasha nodded once towards Steve happily, but Georgiana frowned. Bucky must have followed her trail of sight to see where she was looking, because he ran his arms comforting up and down Georgiana's back. Georgiana had told Bucky about Natasha's feelings for Steve, after making Bucky promise to never say anything.

Bucky kissed the top of her head again, and then they separated from their hug so that everyone else could say their hellos. Natasha playfully punched Bucky's arm, while Wanda gave a side hug to both Bucky and Steve.

"How is T'Challa?" asked Natasha.

While Georgiana had been on a mission with the girls, Steve, Bucky, and Sam had been working on another mission with the King.

"Better, now," said Steve, and Bucky chuckled. Georgiana knew she would hear all about it later.

"Clint has invited us to dinner at his farm tonight," said Bucky. "He said his kids are missing their Aunt Nat."

"They always are." Natasha grinned.

 **X-X-X**

Laughing, Georgiana hung up her cellphone and slipped outside onto the porch of the cabin, where she and Bucky where still living when they weren't on missions.

"Who was that?" Bucky asked.

It took a moment for Georgiana to answer because she was briefly distracted at just how handsome and relaxed he looked, leaning on the porch rails.

"Just Tony," said Georgiana, moving to stand beside him.

Bucky pulled her into his chest. "What were you laughing at?"

"Tony was just making fun of my list."

"Your list?"

Georgiana's face turned red, and Bucky smiled gently down at her. She still loved how he was a full head taller than her. He tugged on her hair playfully.

"I use to make a list, back when I woke up without memories, of things that I liked."

"Am I on it?" Bucky smirked.

Georgiana shrugged. "Maybe."

She turned to lean on the porch rails and let the cool night breeze kiss her face. The night sky was slightly cloudy, and because of the light of the full moon the clouds seemed to glow white in the black sky. Stars colored the dark spaces between the clouds.

Friends. Running. Helping. Holding Hands. Wind. Clint. Hugs. Laughing. Learning. Almost. Bucky. Cabin. Flying. Tony. Healing. Stars. Natasha. Wanda. Steve. Sam. Reading. Grizzle Bear. James Buchanan Barnes.

Beside her, Bucky's cold metal arm brushed hers as he too looked up at the stars. His eyes reflecting their light.

"Stars are made of memories, you know," said Georgiana. And so was Bucky.

Bucky's forehead crinkled. "Good memories or bad memories?"

Georgiana kissed his metal arm and then looked back towards the sky.

"Both," she said.

And both was good.


End file.
